Poor Farmers Invoke Land Law To Get Their Hands On South Africa's Richest Diamond Mines

Poor farmers invoke land law to get their hands on South Africa's richest diamond mine

Deep in the bushveld of South Africa's far north, 20 miles down a dirt track from the nearest road, the dusty township of Taaibosch is an unlikely place to find the owners of one of the country's most valuable pieces of real estate.

Yet the residents of its rows of tiny brick huts, baking in the harsh sun, may soon be declared joint proprietors of South Africa's richest diamond mine.

John Matlathi, 66, the village's head man, and other members of the Tshivhula tribe who live in the township are among impoverished blacks, from five different communities, claiming hundreds of square miles of the dry, sparsely-populated land as their own.

Under legislation designed to redress the injustices of apartheid, they have been granted the right to a full hearing by one of South Africa's land tribunals, which can decide to return land from which black communities were forcibly evicted to make way for white farmers.

In this case, however, it is not just land and 900 properties at stake – but also rights over the mine at Venetia, 50 miles to the east, which produces almost half of South Africa's diamonds.

The Tshivhulas know that if their claim succeeds, they will be enriched beyond their dreams. Yet for now, their ambitions are modest. "I think the land claim will change our lives," said Mr Matlathi. "Now we are suffering, we don't eat enough. We will be able to keep animals, we will be able to plough."

They hope that the big, open-cast mine, established in Limpopo province by the mining giant, De Beers, in 1992 – the dying days of apartheid – will be the jewel in the crown of their land claim. The mine dominates the landscape as well as the local economy.

With a workforce of almost 1,000, it is one of the biggest employers in an area where jobs are few. But it is the staggering 8.5 million carats (1.7 tons) of diamonds that it produces each year that makes its restitution so potentially valuable. The Tshivhula say they have no plans to throw the landowners out, but instead want to work in partnership with them. "We don't want to kill the economy," says Isaac Matlabeka, 66, who is unemployed. "Our aim is to work with the whites, but they must respect us."

Another Tshivhula claimant, 86-year-old Petrus Semata, insists: "We don't want to chase anybody away, and we don't say De Beers must go, but we must have equal rights. The problem is that the white people owned our whole land and the black people are very poor."

There has been growing conflict over the "land restitution" programme, especially since the government abandoned its policy of seeking negotiated settlements and threatened to purchase farms compulsorily. Farmers complain that they are being made scapegoats and say the process is being driven by greed.

Marthie Heinlein, 72, who runs a game farm once owned by the former president of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger, in the Venetia area, says landowners intend to fight the claim. "When my late husband's family arrived here in 1919, there were no blacks here to help with the cattle. They had to employ a worker from Malawi. So how can they now claim this land was theirs?" she said.

Mr Matlathi says that was because many of the blacks had previously been driven off the land. He recalls how, in the early 1960s, his own family fled to Botswana after threats from the owner of the farm where his father kept livestock.

Mr Matlathi returned to Taaibosch 16 years ago – and the holes in his shirt are the most visible evidence of the hardship which he hopes will end if the claim succeeds. Indeed, the stakes are high for everybody involved.

The area concerned covers more than 300 farms, and stretches south from the border to the Soutpansberg Mountains, 60 miles west of the Kruger National Park.

As well as Venetia, it includes the World Heritage Site at Mapungubwe, where the discovery of archaeological remains, including a tiny gold rhinoceros, were seen as the first evidence of a flourishing black civilisation 600 years before whites arrived.

So perhaps it is not surprising that there are bitter divisions among the -claimants, with two different -communities – the Tshivhula and the Machete – insisting that the land on which the mine stands is theirs.

Meanwhile, De Beers is -saying very little. The company has until Thursday to give its response to the land claim.

Its head of external and corporate affairs, Sakhile Ngcobo, said that De Beers was willing to co-operate with the Limpopo land claims commission and was "busy putting together a recommendation on whether we believe this to be a valid claim or not".

He refused to say how the company will respond if the claim is accepted as valid.

So they are goiung to ruin the diamond mining industry, too? Good move! They will feel so good afterwards.

Is this what the intelligent and super-rich do whenever they're able to get away with it? Move in and take from illiterate, dirt-poor people the riches of the land they'd lived on for countless generations? Why didn't De Beers agree from the very beginning to go equal shares with the rightful owners of the land, thus improving the outlook for future generations of those owners? Yes, De Beers deserves compensation for their technical expertise in the mine business and their marketing expertise in the diamond business. No, De Beers doesn't deserve to keep it all for themselves.

So much greed...so little shame...

De Beers agree from the very beginning to go equal shares with the rightful owners of the land

In the long run, it is in DeBeers best interests to work out something with the government representing these people as it is the government who will enforce the rules. Sometime the money goes back to the little people also, most times it doesn't.

"No, De Beers doesn't deserve to keep it all for themselves. "

Some how I agree.

I've read that 2/3's of all the gold in circulation today came from South Africa.

Two wrongs, don't make a right.

But three do.

7 posted on 09/30/2006 6:44:28 PM PDT by Lurker (islam is not a religion. It's the new face of Fascism in our time. We ignore it at our peril.)

I agree with you DeBeers is a greedy little company that artificially keeps diamond prices high.....some years ago after I was married I realized the diamond on my engagement band would be the very last diamond I would buy or wear. I think this company is disgusting. I'm all for free market but they have taken advantage of this country.

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