Competition for contracts turns town into a snake pit
The deaths of six Modikwa Platinum mine workers in Driekop has lifted the lid on sophisticated criminal elements that have usurped legitimate business interests in the small mining town of Burgersfort in Limpopo.
Cartels, assassinations and hostile takeovers have become familiar as former taxi owners, young entrepreneurs and community leaders scramble for a piece of the 30% procurement provision allocated to local businesses by mining houses along the Dilokong corridor.
Though the police are yet to determine the motive behind the recent torching of a bus that was taking more than 50 mine workers home when Zephora Makuwa, Piet Ranku, Monicah Mabilu, Simon Mahlokoane, Lucas Komana and Johannes Malepe were burnt to death, locals believe the reasons for their killings are more complex than accepted.
The permanent chaos in the area as a result of regular mass protests, which descend into violence, led locals and some media reports to conclude that the murders were a result of unrest over the failure to implement labour and social plans by the mines.
Just like 16 other mining operations in the Dilokong corridor, Modikwa — jointly owned by African Rainbow Minerals and Anglo Platinum — has been affected by violent community protests. These have left the busy R37, which connects the mineral-rich Bushveld Complex, scarred by burnt tyres and debris.
Last week the community of Driekop was reeling in the aftermath of the horrific killings.
Though five people have been arrested for the crime, a spokesman for the seven tribal authorities that are beneficiaries of the Modikwa mine operation, Chief Masiya Mohlala, said they were interested in the arrest of the kingpin who had hired them to carry out the vicious attack.
He said conflict among people competing for mining tenders in the area was the root of the problem, with desperate unemployed young people being used to instigate violence against competitors’ businesses.
Community mobilisation on genuine issues had been hijacked and was being used to undermine competition by torching trucks and buses belonging to adversaries. “The murders are not related to community protest. The people who did this are criminals. We are still hurting and hope the police will catch whoever the leader of the five boys is because we need answers,” Mohlala said.
He said the traditional authorities would ask the Modikwa mine management to help the families of the deceased establish a business venture to ensure their children could sustain themselves.
The six deceased workers were all breadwinners in their families, some supporting more than 12 people.
Shortly before the horrific murders, a well-known local businessman was arrested for allegedly shooting a young man at pointblank range. The man was later released on bail, after he told the court that he was defending himself after a group of young men threatened to burn his trucks if he did not pay a protection fee.
Other businessmen in Burgersfort, who did not want to be named, said this was a likely scenario as trading conditions in the area had deteriorated into a cesspool of corruption and lawlessness.
“Doing business in Burgersfort is like existing in a snake pit; you either get bitten or you bite,” said a businesswoman who did not want to be identified.
Chicco Kgoete, the MD of Mashianoke Resources Group — a bulk load and haul business operating in the mining town — explained that the 30% preferential procurement allocated to local businesses could never be enough in a place where 90% of the population was poor. He said that as a result of this poverty, business competition in the region was unhealthy.
“The very few that have the big contracts will do anything and everything in their power to hold on to their contracts. If it means instigating violence, I feel most would,” Kgoete explained.
“Those that have contracts feel threatened when a new player enters their space, particularly if the new entrant is young and dynamic because young people have fresh ideas, so mostly the old guard will try to blockade our entrance and access to the big contracts.”
The Fetakgomo-Greater Tubatse Municipality has a population of 493,000, according to the last census. The unemployment rate is 50%.
In its 2016 annual report Anglo Platinum — which is a major player in the region with more than three operations — acknowledged that the magnitude of the socioeconomic and environmental issues in Limpopo required action on a scale far greater than any mine could meaningfully begin to tackle.
It noted “generally low literacy and skills levels, high rates of unemployment and high levels of poverty” as some of the significant challenges being faced.
Kgoete raised a concern over the cost of doing business in the region, which was now considered a high-risk area, saying they also felt the pinch as business insurance kept increasing. “Whenever there are road blockades we, the business community together with the mines, are most affected and when the risk of doing business becomes too big, our business insurance goes up — particularly those of us who are in the transport business,” he said.
“For instance, whenever there’s a strike along the R37, my trucks must stay at home until order is restored.”
Fetakgomo Tubatse municipality spokesman Thabiso Mokoena supported the views expressed by Mohlala and Kgoete on the nature of the recent violence in the area but refrained from pinning it on business conflict.
“We are still shocked as it is the first incident of that nature that has happened in our municipality. We don’t think the incident talks to the issue of service delivery or socioeconomic issues because when you look at the modus operandi, it happened at night.
“It shows it was planned. For us it is a criminal activity because people have genuine concerns about issues of business and issues of employment,” he said.
He praised Modikwa mine, saying it was one of the most progressive operations in the area as it was the first to extend the 30% procurement provision to locals and had been amenable to aligning its social plans with the needs of communities affected by mining. He said the most contentious issues, which concerned all 17 operations in the area, were over employment and business opportunities in the mines.
While the municipality understood that it could not expect the mining companies to absorb all the unemployed, civic education was still poor as locals expected to reap the benefits of the structures that light up their skylines when darkness falls.
However, the priorities of the families of those who were killed have been altered.
They now seek closure, which they said at last weekend’s mass funeral service would be brought when the authorities explained the motive that inspired the torching of the bus that left their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and children burnt beyond recognition.
THE VERY FEW THAT HAVE THE BIG CONTRACTS WILL DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO HOLD ON