Johannesburg - Bapo Ba Mogale Investments (BBMI), the non-profit company with a mandate to execute the commercial interests of the Bapo Ba Mogale Traditional Authority has been rocked by allegations of corruption and insolvency.
The allegations add tensions to the volatile relationship between the Bapo and Lonmin after the Bapo blamed it for disrespecting and disregarding their relationship in a Business Report article yesterday.
The Bapo own the land on which Lonmin operates, and BBMI was awarded a contract to transport platinum from shafts to concentrators at Lonmin’s operations after being founded by the community in 2014.
The suspicions are against the backdrop of public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report, which found that millions in mining royalties were looted from the community’s development account.
Suspicions
At a heated meeting on June 25, it was alleged that its chief executive, Lehlohonolo Nthontho, had pocketed money earmarked for the community.
It was claimed that the Bapo had not yet and would never get funding from the National Empowerment Fund (NEF).
There were also suspicions that Nthontho and some of his colleagues had set up a company and spent R600 000 of the community’s money funding it.
According to a memorandum of a meeting on June 25, Lonmin paid a R20 million royalty payment to the Bapo last year with R14m paid for the assets while Nthontho allegedly pocketed the balance.
Vladimir Mogale, the spokesman for the traditional authority said money was not paid to Nthontho but was in fact deposited into the community’s account, which was administered by the Traditional Council and the Finance Department. “The R14m was used to buy trucking assets for the community, the remaining balance invested by Traditional Council who only needed R14m for the assets, not the entire R20m,” Mogale said.
Mogale said the BBMI had benefited the community and noted that the community now owned four projects under BBMI, including Yellow Equipment Ore Transport; Dinotshi Trucking; Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which refers to protective clothing supplies; and BapoTrans Bussing for transporting workers.
The BBMI received a revolving credit facility of R30m from the NEF to capitalise its ore transport and PPE businesses (R15m each), Mogale said.
Churchill Madumo, a board member at BBMI, said the mismanagement allegations were noise from a faction of the community that was spreading rumours.
“A few people in the past ran the Dinotshi contract and made money, now we are running the Dinotshi contract they are disgruntled,” he said referring to the trucking contract.
“The records are there, nobody pocketed money. They are liars and are stirring trouble in the community,” Madumo said.
The community alleged that Lonmin admitted its fair share of responsibility in the breakdown of relations of the community.
Until fairly recently Lonmin had its fair share of contribution towards community instability, according to the Bapo community meeting report for the period of September 2015 to September 2016.
“For many years Lonmin has never seen Bapo as an equal partner leading to empowering individuals that were deemed to be politically in control of the community.
“An example is the Dinotshi contract, which was recently restated back to the community through the mediation of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation.
“The legacy issue between Bapo and Lonmin has culminated in a long history of mistrust and this in certain instances still continue.”
BUSINESS REPORT