Illegal miners invade Kimberley suburb

Members of the community, as well as legitimate mining companies, have pointed out that the current situation poses a major problem, and have called on the Sol Plaatje Municipality and police to take action. Picture: Diamond Fields Advertiser

Members of the community, as well as legitimate mining companies, have pointed out that the current situation poses a major problem, and have called on the Sol Plaatje Municipality and police to take action. Picture: Diamond Fields Advertiser

Published Sep 15, 2016

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Kimberley - Kimberley’s new diamond rush took another dramatic turn yesterday with more illegal miners moving into the Cassandra residential area in their search for stones.

Desperate residents in the suburb watched in horror as the group of illegal miners moved in with their equipment to process a piece of open land at the cul-de-sac at the end of David Harris Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.

This comes in the wake of approximately 2 000 miners currently sifting the soil in extensive parts of the veld between Aristotle Avenue and the Diamond Oval cricket stadium.

Members of the community, as well as legitimate mining companies, have pointed out that the current situation posed a major problem and yesterday called on the Sol Plaatje Municipality as well as the police to take action.

“The illegal mining activities along the Boshof road have now spilled over into Cassandra,” said a resident of the suburb, Vernon Ludick. “Most of the activities are taking place at the hockey field as well as at the Country Club, while some miners have taken up station at the cul-de-sac at the end of David Harris Avenue.”

“As it is, we already have a problem with illegal dumping and unlawful traffic in the area since the municipality removed the fence at the cul-de-sac.

“A number of exploration holes have also been dug over a huge area between Cassandra and the Aristotle Avenue link-road to the Boshof road.

“The miners also have ready access to water since one of the old De Beers water shafts is unmanned and in close proximity.”

Another resident of David Harris Avenue added that the miners had started arriving at the latest site in numbers on Tuesday afternoon, resulting in altercations with residents within a matter of hours.

“More and more miners keep arriving and yesterday afternoon saw about 200 to 300 start working in the veld at the end of David Harris Avenue,” he said. “One of my neighbours went to take photographs to send to the municipality so that they could identify the culprits and do something about it.

“Then, at about 9pm, his wife found someone on her property and immediately called the police.

“The police arrived but told her that there was nothing they could do about the miners because there was no fence or signs warning that trespassers would be prosecuted.”

The resident said that the community was living in fear and believed that anyone seen to be taking action against the miners risked victimisation.

“It can’t be a coincidence that shortly after a resident took pictures of the workers, his house was broken into,” he said.

“This is becoming a major problem and is escalating on a daily basis. Worst of all, nobody seems to be doing anything about it.”

Residents also questioned the right of people to just move in and start mining without any consideration for the legal rights of other stakeholders.

“No one wants to do anything about the situation. We are totally at a loss about what to do next. We can’t even move out because our properties are worth nothing.

“Do the municipality and police want blood to be spilled before they do something to protect the legal residents, who are paying rates and taxes to live here,” another resident said.

“More miners keep arriving and shacks keep going up. We don’t know what to do anymore but the situation is spinning completely out of control.”

Yesterday, the CEO of Kimberley Ekapa Mining (KEM), Jahn Hohne, said that the number of illegal miners had grown exponentially in recent months and were posing a serious threat to their own operations as the unauthorised excavations could severely impact the feasibility of legal operations.

According to Hohne, KEM staff and property had been threatened by the miners, who were operating in contravention of the Diamond Act (which regulates diamond sales to prevent IDB), the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, the Mine Health and Safety Act, and the National Environmental Management Act.

“Apart from threatening the lives of KEM staff, the zama-zamas have carried out acts of arson and malicious damage to property, while theft of equipment, particularly copper cabling, has had a major impact on KEM’s operations,” said Hohne.

He added that KEM was in constant communication with the police as well as the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), pointing out that De Beers had previously laid charges with the police over the course of the last two years.

“The DMR can legitimise the zama-zamas’ operations by granting mining permits on suitable, available ground but there is no way the DMR can grant permits to legalise their operations on our mining rights.

“If KEM’s operations are materially and irreparably harmed, Kimberley and its citizens will pay a very high economic price through lost taxes, stunted financial growth and unemployment.”

Following a week of allegations from various role-players in the industry, Friday saw officials from Petra Diamonds and representatives of the illegal miners speak out about the current situation, which has seen thousands of people illegally occupying land and sifting through the gravel in the hopes of uncovering the sought after gems.

While the miners claimed that they were working on land that would otherwise be used exclusively for illegal dumping, Petra spokesman, Gert Klopper, pointed out that these informal operations were potentially placing both the jobs of Petra employees and the future of the city in jeopardy.

In an interview in Monday’s DFA, Klopper explained that the diamonds recovered in these operations were in contravention of the Kimberley Process (KP) certification scheme, which is meant to assure consumers that diamonds have been legally mined and are not “conflict diamonds”.

Instead, these gems were being sold through IDB (illicit diamond buying) channels with the revenues flowing to unknown criminal organisations.

DIAMOND FIELDS ADVERTISER

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