AQUARIUS PLATINUM WITHHELD AN IMPORTANT HISTORICAL STUDY FROM ITS INVESTORS, WHILE THEY AND SYLVANIA PLATINUM LULLED INVESTORS INTO BELIEVING THAT THEY HAD THE MINERALS RIGHTS OVER THE VYGENHOEK FARM. THERE IS A LAND CLAIM ON THIS FARM BY THE CHOMA COMMUNITY AND AQP HAS TRIED TO MISLEAD ITS SHAREHOLDERS THAT THE CORRECT PROCEDURE HAS BEEN FOLLOWED.
Stuart Murray shows double standards when it comes to recognizing indigenous communities.
The Restitution of Land Rights Act (RLR) of 1994 came into being at around the same time that Nelson Mandela became the Father of the Nation after a long-awaited struggle by all South Africans who did not approve of the apartheid regime. Their combined fight for justice, equality and human rights paid off when Mandela was released and through the efforts of Desmond Tutu, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission´s objective was to heal the wounds of the past and prepare for a sustainable future with a clear conscious and clean slate. The (RLR) gave dispossessed indigenous communities an opportunity to reclaim their land taken by the previous government and thereby be restituted to the rightful owner. The cut- off date for such process in terms of the ( RLR) was 31st December 1998.
The problem which has become evident after fourteen years of waiting was that this cut-off time applied only to submissions and that Government had no time constraint imposed on it to report back on its findings and recommendations. At the time a peaceful community situated in the Groot Dwars River Valley called the Ba CHOMA had applied within the prescribed time frame for the return of the seven properties called the Pakaneng Lands. The boundaries of Pakaneng were pointed out by the longest surviving member and head of the Choma clan, octogenarian, Mokomotwane Simon Choma. He did so by the only method he knew and that was by using the mountains and rivers as landmarks which dominate this prolific landscape. He proudly directed his knowledge to the officials of the REGIONAL LAND CLAIMS COMMISSION (RLCC) proclaiming the ancestral names of each farm known only to insiders of the clan. As a humble and patient man, who had waited seventy years for this day, he was overwhelmed by the occasion of reclaiming his ancestral lands, not having been formally schooled in western tradition. Little did he know that where his ancestors had put down roots was on one of the richest areas in the world where Platinum Group Metals occur, known today as the Bushveld Igneous Complex and that he would end up competing with Government and big business for the return of his ancestral land.
When we became involved in this battle just over a year ago, he had already been waiting patiently for a further fourteen years and nothing had been resolved or transferred to him and his community. As we delved further into the story, we discovered that matters pertaining to his claim where being manipulated behind his back and the likelihood of the return of the Pakaneng Lands was fading fast despite reassurances. Early on in process, a little known government official was blazing a trail for himself as a dealmaker in Platinum interests. Mr. Kwape Mmela employed by the RLCC between 1997 and 2002 and who was instrumental in the highly publicized land expropriation case in 2001 involving white landowners and the Dikwanya Community who had lost their lands and had been forcibly removed through various Apartheid Laws. At this time a progressive and proactive Australian mining company called Aquarius Platinum, so it seemed, was organising a restitution settlement with the Bakone Ba Pethla community in advance of commencing mining operations.
