26 October 2006
Minister of Public Enterprises, Alec Erwin and representatives of the
Richtersveld community (RVC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Cape
Town today.
Both parties are pleased with this milestone in what has been described as a
long and protracted process. This agreement will now have to become an order of
the court before the implementation thereof.
Salient features of the settlement include:
* Alexkor will transfer the land awarded to the community by the
Constitutional Court
* government will at its own cost establish and declare Alexander Bay as a
township
* Alexkor and the RVC will enter into a Pool and Share Joint Venture (PSJV) in
terms of which they will jointly conduct land and sea mining operations
* Alexkor will also convert old mining rights into new order mining rights and
transfer such to the community
* outstanding and overdue historical environmental rehabilitation will be
executed by Alexkor at its own cost
* the community will receive an extraordinary reparation payment to address
historical extraction of diamonds
* the agriculture and mari-culture assets of Alexkor will be transferred to the
community
* the RVC will receive a lump sum development grant.
Notes for editors:
* The RVC filed a land claim under the terms of the Restitution of Land
Rights Act for a parcel of land situated in Alexander Bay. It argued that
Alexkor Limited (Alexkor), a state-owned enterprise (SOE), has been mining
diamonds on the land since 1926 without providing the RVC with
compensation.
* Initially the Land Claims Court rejected this claim, however, the RVC
appealed to the Constitutional Court and in October 2004 the RVC was awarded
both the land and the land's mineral rights.
* The Constitutional Court then referred the matter back to the Land Claims
Court to determine the nature of the restitution.
* The RVC also filed an additional claim for damages (R4 billion). The RVC
claimed that Alexkor owed it a portion of the revenues that Alexkor earned on
the sale of diamonds mined since 1926. The RVC also added that Alexkor owed it
for the rehabilitation of the land that Alexkor damaged during its mining
activities.
* In an attempt to fast track this process, Department of Public Enterprises
(DPE) aimed to reach an out-of-court settlement with the RVC.
Contact:
Gaynor Kast
Ministerial Spokesperson
Tel: (012) 431 1000
Fax: (012) 431 1039
Cell: 083 271 4350
Issued by: Department of Public Enterprises
26 October 2006
