‘Gayton and Kenny must be charged’ say angry Riverlea residents

The mine which was believed to belong to ex-convicts turned-businessmen Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene has allegedly left the community of Riverlea, west of Johannesburg, with broken promises and misery.

Residents want the duo, who they believed were executives of Central Rand Gold (CRG), and other directors, to be charged for failing to adhere to the requirements of the National Environmental Management Act.

This is for not ever producing credible information and for not making provision for mine closure and rehabilitation… in terms of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA).

UPDATE: Gayton and Kenny ‘not to blame’ for abandoned Riverlea mine

Residents note that CRG closed last April without notifying its employees of their salaries for the previous three months, with the community alleging that CRG left a vast swathe of non-rehabilitated operations.

According to David van Wyk, lead researcher at the Benchmark Foundation, of particular concern was an open cast pit less than five metres from a proclaimed heritage sites (George Harrison Park, the site of the first mining licence in Johannesburg granted in 1886); and a Primary School (TC Esterhuysen, established in 1917).

He said the opencast pit presented a constant danger to the primary school and its pupils (aged six to 12 years) and that residents has for the last five years tried to draw the attention of the department of mineral resources but all has been in vain.

Residents now want to have CRG and its directors charged for not having had a credible Social and Labour Plan in terms of the MPRDA.

McKenzie has since cleared the air and said he and Kunene left the employ of CRG about 11 years ago and have had nothing to do with it ever since.

Read more: Gayton and Kenny not to blame for abandoned Riverlea mine

“We certainly never owned it or controlled it. Since we were part of the team in 2007/08 that did community participation ahead of CRG getting its mining right, an impression may have been created that we were the big bosses there, but nothing could be further from the truth. I was not even the BEE partner, nor have I ever been anyone’s BEE partner,” McKenzie explained.

He accused van Wyk, who he said was a DA member, of trying to popularise the misinformation that the mining activity and shaft in Riverlea were his doing.

The Riverlea Community Forum wants the department to be charged in terms of negligence and failure to carry out its mandate as a department in terms of proper regulation and oversight of the activities of CRG.

The residents assert that that the department of the environment and the department of education, provincially and nationally, should be charged with negligence in this matter.

Last week, the department acknowledged receipt of the questions for comment but was yet to reply.

• This story has been updated to include the response from McKenzie.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

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