Mbombela - Without warning to most villagers, heavy equipment such as drill machines, excavators, tractor loader backhoes (TLBs) and tipper trucks roared into the serene Mooihoek village around March last year.
The hustle and bustle that followed left deep excavations near residents’ homes. Large mounds of earth piled up in a quest to extract the mineral chromite, from which chrome is extracted and which is in demand in the steel industry.
As the machines transformed the landscape of the Limpopo village, only a few individuals had an idea of what was happening and who was behind it.
Those who asked too many questions were allegedly silenced with payments of about R50 000 cash followed by R10 000 every month.
As the miners flattened a hill and dug deeper, they chipped away at the ground around some homes and infrastructure such as substations.
Some of these homes are now hanging on by a thread as a result of reckless – and illegal – mining.
The Witwatersrand experienced a gold rush in 1886 that led to the establishment of Johannesburg.
More than a century later, Limpopo is experiencing a chrome and platinum rush as a result of an abundance of the mineral in the eastern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex.
However, the illegal chrome rush is creating environmental degradation and putting people’s lives in danger. The outcrop of chrome and platinum bearing ore in the province’s Sekhukhune area is about 180km long.
Minus Maluka (45) claimed illegal mining bosses spoke to a selected few individuals, gave them money and they started mining. Subsequently, youngsters’ lives began changing.
“They bought motorbikes and cars and began showing off when they drank on weekends.”
He said the graves of six of his relatives were desecrated.
“Those graves were dug up. The bones are buried in the mounds. When my sister and aunt complained, they were threatened with death,” he alleged.
Maluka did not live in the area, but intervened on behalf of his relatives, who feared for their lives.
He said he spoke to workers on site and they told him they were working for one Morgan Mohlala.
“I have spoken to Morgan and his workers, but they are unwilling to negotiate anything,” Maluka said. His sister’s home is a few metres from the illegal mine.
Mohlala denied any involvement in the illegal mining at Mooihoek and said he has a contract at the nearby Black Chrome Mine, owned by minerals trading company Sail.
He did not specify what kind of contract. “I’m not mining there [at Mooihoek]. I think you’ve got the wrong person,” Mohlala said.
Black Chrome Mine’s new business development director, Lee McCann, said the mine had a contract with a company called PGL.
“Mohlala is a member of a legal company called PGL, which has a contract to mine a small section on our opencast operations under our mining right. We do not buy ore from him,” McCann said.
Maluka said he also approached one Lucas Mohlala about the illegal mining.
“We’ve moved away from that area,” Mohlala said and declined to give further details.
When City Press visited Mooihoek last week, mining machinery had been abandoned for about two weeks. Villagers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said mining stopped whenever the illegal miners got a tipoff that police and the department of mineral resources (DMR) were about to arrive to investigate. “We suspect that the local police tip them off. They also get bribed,” Maluka said.
Since 2016, Limpopo police had arrested 70 alleged illegal chrome miners – including owners of the illicit operations, managers and ordinary workers. They believed there was a syndicate selling the ore to places as far away as China. The suspects were charged with contravening provisions of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and the National Environmental Management Act.
“Apart from these arrests, we have confiscated a number of high-volume mining machines, including trucks, excavators and TLBs,” said provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo. “The magnitude of the problem points to the existence of a syndicate, which we are at this stage not at liberty to divulge, or the status of our investigation,” he said.
Mojapelo said “high-density operations” to clamp down on illegal mining were ongoing.
McCann said they were concerned about illegal mining along the R37 road and were cooperating with police and the DMR.
DMR spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said the department was not aware of forced relocations as a result of illegal mining in the area.
“Illegal mining is a criminal activity that is fuelled by highly organised, dangerous, well-financed and complex local and international crime syndicates. The department is collaborating with law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to implement measures that will ultimately lead to the eradication of the illicit activities,” she said.
As one drives around Mooihoek, it is evident that the zama-zama business is booming. Men and women in the area are digging for their own pockets.
They make about R500 for a TLB load of chrome-bearing ore. Some of the villagers had erected shacks in the path of the mining activities, hoping to be compensated when the area had to be dug up.
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