Erwin’s ‘get lost’ to Richtersvelders

Saving the troubled parastatal diamond miner Alexkor through a deal with De Beers is more important than restitution for the people of the Richtersveld, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin has told community representatives.

Erwin wrote to the Richtersvelders recently, apparently repudiating the terms of a memorandum of understanding with the community, and accusing it of ‘continuously shifting the goal posts” in its interpretation of the settlement deal.

‘My primary responsibility is to look after Alexkor — Under the circumstances you left me no choice but to act in the best interest of Alexkor. The package contained in the [memorandum], thus falls away,” Erwin wrote.

Under the settlement deal outlined in the memorandum in October last year, the Richtersvelders would drop their massive damages claim in return for the transfer of mining rights and the payment of more than R200-million in compensation for the loss of land.

The community could then exercise its mining rights either by concluding an operation deal with Alexkor or a partner of their choice ‘who can show capacity”.

Other companies active in the area include TransHex and De Beers, and it seems it was the community’s unwillingness to cut a deal with Alexkor that led Erwin to walk away from the settlement.

In his letter Erwin claimed the community had irreconcilable objectives, and made it clear that he believed a ‘package” deal involving Alexkor was the only alternative on the table: ‘You want the best of two worlds — on the one side you don’t want to enter into an joint venture with Alexkor, but you want to enjoy the benefits of the value and the marine diamonds which Alexkor would have brought into such a venture.”

Instead he gave the nod to the department of minerals and energy to approve a new plan to amalgamate Alexkor and De Beers-owned Namaqualand Mines into a stand-alone company, likely to be called the West Coast Diamond Mining Operation.

Nicky Oppenheimer, chairperson of the De Beers Group, and Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica announced that De Beers would jointly mine the area with Alexkor on behalf of an unspecified BEE group.

In 2003, the government was interdicted from selling or transferring any Alexkor assets while the Richtersvelders’ claim was still being adjudicated.

This week a furious Willem Diergaardt, spokesperson for the Richtersveld Sida !hub Communal Property Association, told the Mail & Guardian: ‘We have an agreement with the government that we will, in good faith, not enter deals with other parties. We’ve been talking to government for years and then I see Nicky Oppenheimer­ smiling and shaking hands with government officials on TV. I realised they’re smiling and shaking hands over a deal made about our land.

‘We want to see this deal and how it affects us. If we haven’t heard from government, we’re getting a court interdict to stop the deal until the finalisation of our land claim.”

Diergaardt said the community had suggested to the government that they want to talk to De Beers about a partnership and to advise them on valuation ‘because they’re the best in the business”.

‘We said we’re not interested in entering a partnership with a BEE company. With his own mouth, Erwin said: ‘If you talk to De Beers, we’re not negotiating any further.’ Now government announces their own deal with De Beers.”

De Beers also reckons the government did not adequately consult the Richtervelders. The company is particularly sensitive about claims of unethical practice after the controversy over the eviction of San groups from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and the recent film Blood Diamond.

Spokesperson Sakhile Ngcobo said he ‘can sympathise with the community, if you hear what’s happening on your land from the newspapers and on the news. During our dealings with the department and Alexkor, the department undertook to consult the community, and they didn’t do it. Our deal with the department has nothing to do with Erwin or his agreement with the community. We’ve agreed to sell 20% of our Namaqualand asset to the department, and that’s it.”

At a mass meeting in Alexander Bay last week, the community decided to demand that the government withdraw or face court action.

Said Diergaardt: ‘Erwin wined and dined us in a fancy restaurant in Cape Town and told us that government is as excited as [we are] to conclude this deal and settle matters out of court. Then behind our backs government makes deals and can’t even pick up the phone to tell us about it before announcing it to the public.

‘Previously we were too black to own the land where we lived and worked, and now it seems we’re too white.”

Erwin’s spokesperson, Vimla Maistry, said the Richtersveld community had disappointingly deviated from the terms of the memorandum of understanding.

‘It’s the second time a memorandum has been signed without reaching closure.

‘This state of affairs is not in the best interests of Alexkor, as the uncertainty and protraction of time affects its business,” Maistry said.

Diergaardt said the community had asked to meet Erwin, but that he had not yet responded.