Police must step in, says mine
KIMBERLEY Ekapa Mining Joint Venture (KEM-JV) has called on the police to step in and enforce the law if there is to be any chance of an amicable outcome to ongoing conflict between the mining company and hundreds of illegal miners operators working and residing in the vicinity of Kimberley.
In a statement issued by the KEM-JV following last week’s altercations, spokesperson Gert Klopper described these incidents as “unprovoked and unsolicited” violent attacks on company personnel and property, as he urged the relevant authorities to take decisive action to end the scourge of illegal miners acting outside the law “without any consequences”.
According to Klopper, personnel of KEM-JV were acting within their legal rights when they attempted to reopen the road on Thursday. They then apparently came under attack from a large contingent of illegal miners.
“Security personnel used minimum force by employing nonlethal ammunition to protect themselves, after practicing absolute restraint and taking a rock pounding,” he said. “This confrontation, which lasted for more than three hours, included instances of petrol bombing in which one of KEMJV’s armoured personnel carriers sustained minor damage.”
Klopper added that the most disturbing aspects of Thursdays confrontation was the alleged use of women and children as human shields as well as the assembly and use of petrol bombs in full view of police.
“Thursday also saw the sabotage of property, including the cutting and destruction of fences and a large diameter pipeline that was severed in two places.”
Some semblance of order was restored by Thursday evening, but tensions again flared up on Friday morning, resulting in additional criminal charges and damage to property.
“Following the lengthy confrontation at Samaria on Thursday, a group of illegal miners attacked a guard house at an entrance to the mine on Molyneaux Road,” Klopper added. “In this attack, they breached the fence, pelted the guard on duty with stones and when he fled, they doused the guard house with petrol and set it alight. Some equipment was also stolen.
“Cases of arson, theft and attempted murder have been opened with the police.”
Klopper added that KEM-JV was sceptical whether there was any chance of resolving the ongoing situation without the intervention of the relevant stakeholders as he called on authorities to act by enforcing the law
“We will continue to exercise our rights to legally extract and process the resources to which the KEM-JV holds the rights . . . and to use authorised infrastructure in doing so.
“We appeal to the authorities to act decisively in restoring the rule of law in order to end this untenable situation, which is not to the benefit of anyone acting legally.”
Apart from isolated incidents when KEM-JV personnel were denied access while trying to fix a damaged pipe at the informal settlement, spokesperson for the illegal miners, Michael Mungoni yesterday claimed that the weekend had been generally quiet, but added that charges of attempted murder had also been opened against mine personnel following last week’s altercations.
“There has not been any arrests that we are aware of, but at least six of our members were badly injured,” he said. “All of them were transported to the Kimberley Hospital.”
Mungoni rubished allegations that women and children were used as human shields as a “stunt”.