Kgosi Kwena Mangope of Bahurutshe Boo Manyana in Lehurutshe outside Zeerust in the North West, has condemned an ongoing illegal mining activities taking place on his community’s land in Masebudule village, where the community’s mining property of Boo Manyana Chrome Mining Company is also operating.
Mangope told YOUFM Newshour that the activities are continuing unabated despite the decision of the North West Division of the High Court in Mahikeng two weeks ago, which ordered Symphony of Light company to vacate the area.
“The court order was unambiguous that the Johannesburg-based Symphony of Light Company must immediately vacate our area. But they are still refusing to leave, they are relentlessly mining our minerals.We are still surprised as to why the government or the police department have not acted on this, to enforce the decision of the High Court.
One has no other way to explain this other than to summarise it by saying, it’s because of lawlessness as it happens in our country. How else can I explain what is happening, I mean the court order said they must leave Masebudule but they refuse, and no one is doing anything about it,” said Kgosi Mangope. He said that he wrote to the relevant authorities to report the illegal mining activities as early as September and October 2024, but nothing was done to combat it.
“I wrote to the North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management (Wessels Morweng).I did not end there, but I went further and reported the matter to the Director General of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Department, including the North West SAPS Acting Police commissioner (Major General Patrick Asaneng) that illegal mining is underway in Masebudule, but nothing has been done. I have done everything I can, I even reported this matter to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, The Hawks. Just yesterday again, I wrote an email to Morweng updating him about the persisting situation in Masebudule,” explained Kgosi Mangope.
He accused the Symphony of Light Company of undermining him and his community by ignoring a long-standing procedure of introducing themselves to the local traditional chief and his council before starting with the operations on their land.
“From where I am sitting, I can’t confirm nor dispute the license they must operate in the area if it is legitimate or not and if it was awarded to them by the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Department.What I was told by our legal team is that this company that is mining our minerals illegally, has a permit to mine other minerals and not chrome. Now that’s beside the point, the law dictates that once they are granted the permit they should have firstly reported to the Chief and his Traditional council before proceeding to extract minerals from our land, but they failed to do so,” he remarked.
Kgosi Mangope alleges that the operation has already extracted minerals worth R200 million from his land and disrupted the lives of the community of Masebudule.“Our mining property, Boo Manyana Chrome Mining Company, BMC has had to appoint a private security company at a huge cost to secure the area for a temporary period. The ‘illegal mining activity’ may threaten the peace and stability of the area if it continues unchecked and without adherence to the court order,” warned Kgosi Mangope
