The PTWC team was accompanied by !Ama Traditional Authority leader in South Africa and PTWC advisory board member Martinus Fredericks, journalists from News 24, Eyewitness News and Daily Maverick, and a photojournalist representing pan-African news outlet The Continent and French news agency AFP.
This was PTWC’s third such mission to the region in the past three years, but the first with embedded independent media. The objective was to expose the journalists – and their audiences – to the precarious plight of the indigenous people of the Richtersveld, and the damage wrought on their fragile environment by the mining industry and successive complicit South African governments.
The environmental aspect was the easy part. The media team – as well as those PTWC members who were first-time travellers to the region – were astounded by the sheer magnitude of damage to the once-pristine landscapes of the Richtersveld.
An abandoned Trans Hex mine and mine dump near Hondeklipbaai. Similar sites litter hundreds of kilometres of Richtersveld landscape, a sight that has to be seen first-hand to truly comprehend its scale. Photo by Miles Masterson/PTWC.
The first signs of the scars and scattered, incongruous mounds of discarded earth from decades of mining began to manifest even on the R382, the approach to the comparatively unscathed coastal town of Port Nolloth. But along the road north to Alexander Bay and the Orange River, the true extent of the destruction of the Richtersveld, a global biodiversity hotspot, truly became apparent.
Enormous mine dumps litter the landscape, making it seem like a giant toddler has dug up colossal piles of sand and dumped them randomly. Abandoned buildings, processing plants and rusting machinery are scattered like disused toys. Great vehicle tracks crisscross the arid scrubland as if our mutant child had been playing with huge Tonka toys in the sand.
While alarming, the videos and photographs we have collected over the years, including those published by PTWC and other photographers barely do justice to the sheer scale of the defilement. You have to see it with your own eyes to truly comprehend it.
As the PTWC convoy bounced along the heavily rutted road along the Orange River, the carnage by disused and active mines seemed to go on forever, kilometre after kilometre, to the left and right.
The only respite comes from when the landscape becomes too rugged to mine – and the rare oasis of an actual farm on this once-fertile farmland. The greenery of potatoes and mielie crops was an almost luminous shock next to the colourless surrounding dust bowls.
Either side mined for decades, the road from Alexander Bay to Sanddrift near the banks of the Orange River looks like a moonscape. Photo by Miles Masterson/PTWC.
This was once a massively fertile valley that fed thousands of people.
“The miners dig down to the bedrock,” explained Martinus, “then they just throw the dirt back and the topsoil is gone forever, leaving a sterile landscape.”
Some sites have been there for years. To the casual observer, it seems as if no visible attempts have been made to restore the ravaged land to its original state, to the detriment of the local communities, the natural landscape and the shared heritage of all South Africans. Whilst rehabilitation obligations have developed over time and have been tightened up, in recent years, the legacy of a failure to rehabilitate has caused a catastrophically scarred landscape.
Whatever the legacy of the past – and whether you want to debate who did what and when – this terrain is now devastated. Anyone involved historically – including mining companies, their subsidiaries, sub-contractors, smaller mining outfits or anyone else associated with this carnage – should be hanging their heads in shame.
Historically, it began with the big players, such as Alexkor around the mouth of the Orange River, and along its banks, De Beers along large stretches of coast; and Trans Hex inland and further south on the coast.
“They just mine and move on,” said Martinus, who has joined the team to chair a meeting of local Richtersveld communities – specifically from the larger towns of Sanddrif (where the gathering is taking place, in a sagging town hall built by Alexkor decades ago), Kuboes – each with populations of about 1000 souls – and the smaller outlying hamlets of Eksteenfontein and Lekkersing, as well as those from this diaspora who now reside in Alexander Bay and Port Nolloth.
The PTWC team and media talked to community members in the remote, dusty dorp of Lekkersing, where several signatories of the original Richtersveld land claim still reside. Photo by Miles Masterson/PTWC.
All of the original 3,500 signatories of the original land claim that was supposed to return ownership of this land to the !Ama people of the Richtersveld – won against the landowner, state diamond mining company Alexkor Ltd in 2003 – hailed from these four towns.
This land claim has been embroiled in legal wranglings and suffered from Machiavellian manoeuvring since it was first lodged in 1998, challenged in court in 2003 by Alexkor and the government and finally granted in 2007.
“In 2007, restitution and future prosperity were further secured. The people celebrated the Land Claims Court Order” wrote PTWC’s Steve Pike, who covered the land claim story in full on our blog last year,” that confirmed a Settlement Agreement between the Sida !hub Communal Property Association (CPA), Alexkor and the Government of South Africa (the Department of Public Enterprises) as valid and binding.”
Richtersveld community members at a recent protest in Alexander Bay, where they marched to call out alleged corrupt board members of the CPA. Photo supplied.
However, residents we spoke to have seen little to nothing from the deal since then. They continue to suffer in poverty and joblessness, while mining companies continue to dig for profits on their land.
“The structure of these entities was so complex, and so filled with loopholes, that it was doomed to fail,” wrote Pike. “There have even been suggestions that this was done deliberately to open up cracks where corruption could take root and flourish. As Fredericks says: ‘It was signed. It was agreed between Alexkor and the community. But 17 years later, we are still trying to unscramble the eggs.’”
To make matters worse, the original claimants are dying off. There is a distrust of outsiders, a lack of resources, poor communication, internal rivalries and power struggles between scattered communities. Trying to reach a consensus has become an ongoing challenge for Martinus and the communities.
That’s not to say that the Richtersveld community cannot rally behind a common cause. There is united opposition to the Boegoebaai Green Hydrogen mega-project planned down the coast, which is going ahead without the consent of the community. A recent protest in Alexander Bay targeted alleged corrupt board members the CPA who are accused of signing off on the deal without member approval.
But, fuelled by a lack of tangible results, and little access to objective information and facts, divisions also run deep, exacerbated by misinformation and distrust.
It was in this atmosphere that the public meeting in Sanddrift began. At first sceptical about these strangers in their midst, thanks to a concerted effort by Martinus, PTWC MD Mike Schlebach and others, most of the 70-strong audience was slowly won over.
!Ama Traditional Authority leader Martinus Fredericks hosted a community meeting in the town of Sanddrift during the PTWC media tour. Photo by Miles Masterson/PTWC.
However, double that number were expected to attend, but we heard that in some cases villagers had been put off attending by rumours allegedly aimed at sowing division. But that is a story for another time.
Martinus painstakingly explained the objectives to help the community find collective power in unity to help themselves in coming up with a solution to their land claim. Part of this was to sign up for an independent Whatsapp group managed by Martinus and others to provide information and news important to their cause.
It also took some time to persuade them that the presence of the media had no other aim than to expose their plight to the world.
“It is only by telling the story of what has happened to your community and raising public awareness that we can apply pressure on the authorities to change the status quo,” PTWC Communications Manager Miles Masterson told the gathering.
“Protect the West Coast has no agenda apart from wanting to help you,” Mike then told them. “This new communication platform will mean you will receive factual updates related to efforts around your land claim and empower the community to finally take ownership over the rich resources of the Richtersveld that belong to you.”
After the meeting, the journalists interviewed community members, and, with that, the PTWC crew were treated to a mesmerising demonstration of the traditional ‘Nama Stap’ dance by local youngsters. This became more poignant when Martinus later told the team that cultural traditions such as these are hanging by a thread.
Paul Botes documents local youths performing the traditional ‘Nama Stap’ dance in Sanddrift. Photo by Steve Pike/PTWC.
The remainder of the trip included more visits to old and new mines and mining towns down the coast, where again the extent of the devastation was plain for all to see. The media team said that the visit was a life-changing experience.
“Amid the arid landscapes of the Richtersveld, there remains a stark contradiction – diamonds extracted from community land fuelling division, not prosperity. What should have been a story of restitution and empowerment has instead become one of conflict, poverty and environmental ruin,” said Daily Maverick scribe Kristin Engel.
“For me, the trip illustrated the fragility of the ecosystem and the urgent need for the government to enforce Social Labour Plan agreements and punish those mine owners not fulfilling rehabilitation criteria,” added veteran photojournalist Paul Botes.
A massive mine dump near the town of Koingnaas in the southern Richtersveld. An antenna at its summit indicates that there seems to be no intention to rehabilitate here – or anywhere else in the region. Photo by Miles Masterson/PTWC.
As Martinus continues his efforts to find a way toward an equitable outcome for his people, assigned community members are compiling names and phone numbers of people from the four affected towns so they can be properly informed.
The trip also looks set to generate several news articles that are likely to influence the shift towards dignified self-reliance that is rightfully theirs. The people of the Richtersveld have much to benefit from its natural resources and alternative income streams such as tourism and sustainable industries.
“One thing is for sure – this story is far from over,” said Mike Schlebach.
[End]
Further reading:
PTWC’s first visit to the Richtersveld (2022) – Fear and Loathing in the Northern Cape:
A clarion call to protect the last refuge of the Endangered Black Harrier:
Saving our cultural legacy from mining – Protect the West Coast: our heritage:
A bright future denied: The plight of the mining-affected !Ama people of the Richtersveld – An interview with Martinus Fredericks:
The Mines of Mordor: PTWC aerial photo team captures hidden destruction of West Coast:
Fact-finding trip to Northern Cape prompts urgent letter to DFFE Minister from PTWC:
!Ama community marches on CPA offices in Northern Cape to protest against alleged corruption:
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