Villagers not celebrating Lonmin deal
AFTER years of fraught talks, platinum miner Lonmin is trumpeting a landmark deal with the impoverished Bapo ba Mogale community, granting them shares in exchange for future royalty payments.
During a community meeting nearly four hours long on Tuesday in Segwaelane near Hartbeespoort, the advocates of the deal made big promises of poverty eradication, wealth creation for future generations and Royal Bafokeng-style development in the area.
Ultimately, the Bapo will get 2.25% of Lonmin, which will help the platinum miner meet government’s 26% black empowerment target this year.
In exchange, the Bapo will cede their rights to future royalties, which stem from a 1969 agreement, and sell their 7.5% interest in the Pandora joint venture. The deal is valued at R664-million, with R564-million to be used for share purchase.
The remaining R100-million will be paid over five years in R20-million tranches and used for “administration costs” of the 35 000 or so Bapo people.
It will also pay R5-million a year into a development trust, and make R200-million a year available for goods and services from Bapo companies.
It remains to be seen whether this deal will enable the Bapo to replicate the success of the Royal Bafokeng, just down the road from the Bapo in the North West platinum belt.
The Royal Bafokeng have used their mineral riches to build a diverse investment portfolio and improve the living conditions of their citizens through infrastructure and social investments.
The tribe holds stakes in a number of companies including Royal Bafokeng Platinum, Rand Merchant Bank Holdings, components manufacturer Metair Investments and courier company DHL Express.
But it is hard to see any sign of development springing from the decades of platinum mining on Bapo land in Segwaelane, which is located in the shade of Lonmin’s Saffy and Four shafts.
The majority of people still live in shacks and their roads are in a desperate condition.
There was no sign of sports facilities at two of the schools visited this week.
What raises greater questions is that to date Lonmin has paid royalties of R370-million to a trust account controlled by the North West government, earmarked for the benefit of the Bapo ba Mogale.
However, more than R300million of this money has gone missing. Public protector Thuli Madonsela is investigating its disappearance.
One elderly woman, who was born into the Bafokeng but married into the Mogale in the 1960s, shrugged her shoulders when asked if the deal was a good one.
“Now if you go back to the Bafokeng, even the areas that were very poor, it is so nice,” she said.
“They have schools, roads, everything. Maybe we can do the same as the Bafokeng here. I don’t know.
“There is so much corruption here, so much fighting.”
At the community meeting, members expressed concern about the missing royalties, the lack of transparency over the deal, how values were arrived at and the legality of the traditional council.
Concerns over the legal standing of the Bapo’s traditional council and its kgosi, Bob Mogale, on whose behalf the meeting was held, were dismissed.
As far as could be established, a 2010 high court interdict remains in place, preventing Mogale from entering into any agreements on behalf of the community.