Mining sector ‘a deadly battleground’ for gangs

South Africa’s abundant mineral resources are not only the lifeblood of the economy, but experts have pointed out that the mining sector has become a deadly battleground for violent extortion by gangs for mining companies and communities.

Bodies have been piling up in a jostle for mining rights on communal land, mining operation procurement and jobs, human rights lawyer Richard Spoor has lamented.

“This is a country where as little as R5 000 gets you a professional hitman and there are plenty of assassins, especially in KwaZulu-Natal,” Spoor said.

He said Nico Swart, 47, Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) executive in KwaZulu-Natal who died in a hail of bullets in an apparent hit, was the most recent victim of the extortion and intimidation campaign.

“Those against the mining are intimidated and killed by those standing to gain from the mining operations. Then come the powerful extortion groups demanding jobs for pals or relatives, a cut from the operations and procurement. These gangs will get rid of anyone standing in their way, in the most violent way,” Spoor said.

Trouble around Rio Tinto RBM’s eMpembeni operations on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast started in 2016 with anti-mining protests against relocation from their ancestral farming land.

In 2016, RMB manager Ronnie Nzimande was shot dead at his Richards Bay home, followed by the assassination of Geshege Nkwanyana, the chair of a local youth organisation and a subcontractor for RBM, gunned down in July 2018 the following year.

Nthuthuko Dladla, who was part of a local business forum, was shot dead three days later as he left his workplace.

According to Spoor, since 2016, there have been at least 39 assassinations and 14 attempted assassinations in the province’s mining communities alone, but this violent trend was fast spreading
to the country’s other mining.

He said, ironically, it was government’s own noble pronouncements that mining communities benefit from operations on their communal land that triggered the conflicts allowed exploitation by powerful networks.

“The mining charter states that some procurements and jobs must go to local people, but there is no clear policy on how exactly this should be done.

“The powerful will then mobilise against the weak and intimidate them into submission. Then you have bad policing and lack of crime intelligence, with people never arrested. It is a ticking time bomb,” Spoor said.

The violent construction mafia masquerading as “business forums” acting in the interest of communities have now set their sights on mining, with Prieska copper-zinc project in the Northern Cape reportedly being the latest target.

But Professor Rudolph Zinn, from the University of South Africa, said extortion gangs were not only limited to construction and mining, but have become firmly entrenched in SA.

“It is a serious concern because it has a large element of organised crime and this means these networks are able to rapidly take over a large territory and take out many lives,” he said.

Zinn said this type of crime was not difficult to police but said without crime intelligence, police were no match for the structures associated with extortion rackets and their deadly campaign.

He said through crime intelligence, tailor made for specific individuals, police need to infiltrate these networks to take them down.

In September last year, the SA Police Service assembled a crack team of investigators to follow leads in the Western Cape following concerns from businesses and individuals coerced to paying protection fees.

– siphom@citizen.co.za