A group of Richtersvelders is trying to stop the Land Claims Court from making the settlement signed on April 22 with Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin an order of the court.
After more than 10 years of legal battles fought against the government for restitution, as well as land and mineral rights, an agreement was signed between the community and Erwin, making the community a minority shareholder in present and future mining operations. The deal includes R190-million compensation for diamonds valued at more than R3-billion that have been mined in Richtersveld in the past.
The state spent about R50-million fighting the Richtersveld community and its land claim. The signing of the agreement with Erwin by four members of a 15-member committee allegedly took place in great secrecy. The community and its lawyers were unaware that an agreement was going to be signed. Richtersvelders have been represented by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) for more than a decade.
A month after the agreement was signed, the LRC withdrew as the community’s legal representative. The centre said it was not possible to continue representing the community.
Janet Love, the national director of the LRC, said the committee’s decision to sign the agreement with the department was not the reason for the LRC’s withdrawal. ‘Without any reservations we support the principle that a client is not tied to the advice of their lawyer — We are, however, of the opinion that it’s not in the best interest of the community that trust between the committee and its legal team has broken down,†the LRC wrote.
Emily Smith, secretary of the newly formed Richtersveld Action Committee (RAC), said the RAC was a ‘resistance movement representing the majority†of the more than 3 000 people living in this arid part of the Northern Cape bordering Namibia.
Smith and her committee will register as an interested party with the Land Claims Court before it formalises the agreement at the end of this month. ‘We’ve been waiting for a very long time for our government to acknowledge our claims. We’re prepared to wait longer so that this agreement is fair — something is wrong when our own business is done in secret,†Smith said. ‘We want our lawyers back and we want to know why Alexkor [a diamond mining parastatal] has a 51% share and the community a 49% share in the final agreement — we won this case in the Constitutional Court and now we’ve signed ourselves into a partnership with a bankrupt company [Alexkor],†she said.
Alexkor has been operating at a massive financial loss for many years. Last week Finance Minister Trevor Manuel tabled a special adjustment estimates Bill to cover unexpected demands made to support the company.
Despite Alexkor’s financial woes the government has been unwilling and unable to shut it down because to do so would cost the state more than R250-million in environmental costs. The government has also been prevented from shutting down the land-mining section of the company because the settlement with the Richtersveld claimants requires that the company continue operating.