On Tuesday, 6 August 2013, the North West Provincial Legislature’ Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) met with the mining companies and Bapo ba Mogale tribal community with the aim of verifying how much the companies have contributed to the D-Account.
The D-Account is an account where all mining companies deposit royalties for traditional authorities. According the Auditor General’s office, the D-account has never been audited for the past 19 years.
SCOPA met with Lonmin (Eastplats and Westplats), Samancor Chrome and International Ferro Metals Limited.
In a presentation to the Committee, the Head of Legal at Lonmin, Mr Peter McElligot stated that from 1970 up to 2011, Lonmin has paid an amount of R372 913 965,48 to the D-Account on behalf of Bapo Ba Mogale tribal community.
The Committee noted that in 2006, Lonmin paid royalties for over R57 million and in 2007; they paid R81 million and R100 million in 2008. Then in 2009, they paid over R448 000 up to R504 000 in 2011. Responding to questions over the difference on the amounts paid, Lonmin stated that there was a decline on international metal prices that affected the whole world.
“Since the 2009 crash, platinum has never recovered back to its original price. We used to sell platinum for $2 200 per ounce and it declined to $752 per ounce.
“The falling of the price resulted in loss of profits in the company,” said Mr McElligot.
A presentation done by Samancor Chrome Limited’s Head of Corporate Affairs and Transformation, Mr Archie Palane, stated that a total amount of R5 037 770 was paid into the Bapo Ba Mogale D-Account. R1 552 432 was paid in the period of 1984 to 1993 and R3 479 338 from 1994 to 2000. An overpayment if R39 605 was made in 2010 which was not recovered.
The Group Finance Manager, Mr Pieter Botha who represented the International Ferro Metals Limited which is the majority holding company of both International Ferro Metals South Africa and Sky Chrome Mining stated that the company has never entered into agreements with the Bapo Ba Mogale tribal community as they do not mine on communal land.the bapo tribe have 20% shares in the company it dose not benefit the community as things stand now no one knows who is representing the community “While waiting for information on how we can contribute to the D-Account from the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, the company has established a community trust account which, has a current balance of R8,4million,” said Mr. Botha.
All mining companies complained that the Bapo Ba Mogale community is not organised. “There is confusion on who represents the community and this makes constructive discussions for the development of the Bapo Ba Mogale they don’t even have the administrator community difficult,” said Mr McElligot.
SCOPA Chairperson, Hon. Hlomane Chauke said the consultations with the mining companies are the first round of the process of ensuring that the D-Account is audited and happy of the information give so fare “In our next engagement, we will make sure that the Department of Minerals and Energy is present to explain how these royalties are supposed to be paid.
“Bapo Ba Mogale should go and organise themselves so that they can take charge of these processes. There must be one voice coming from this community. “This government will not allow things to fall apart. We want to make sure that we defend the gains of our people,” said Hon. Chauke.
The next round where the departments were going to present has been rescheduled for next week. The exact date will be communicated in due course.
For more information contact:
Namhla Luhabe
Cell: 079 527 0628
