Mine owner and founder of Flexiflor Gold Mine in the North West Joel Mafenya has called for the deployment of the army to guard mines owned by black people who he says are being hijacked by white people and mining syndicates.
Mafenya also accused the department of minerals and energy of failing to protect him against illegal occupation and takeover of his mine by an illegal mining syndicate known as Koos Van Staden.
Mafenya, who was speaking at a press briefing in Melrose Arch on Friday, said his mine had been stolen by Van Staden who had employed community members to be instigators and protectors of his mining interests.
Mafenya said he had been locked out of his mine by Van Staden and his handlers who continue to run illegal mining activities behind his back.
He said he entered into a three-month feasibility study agreement with Van Staden, after he (Van Staden ) was introduced to him by a previous service provider.
However, he says Van Staden continues to occupy his mine more than six months after the end of their formal agreement.
“People are brazen as they can only hijack mines with the support of the state. We must not look at this thing in isolation that the gold mine own(ed) by Joel Mafenya has been hijacked. There are a lot of other companies that have been hijacked.
“How can Koos van Staden be this brazen and undermine the sovereignty of the state and the credibility of the state to function. South Africa is capable to fight crime.
“They can fight crime in a matter of weeks and we do not need summits to fight crime. The criminals are well-known therefore you cannot say let’s have a summit on zama zama or mining syndicates when you know where they are and who are the crime bosses,” he said.
The Soweto-born businessman who bought the mine back in 2011 said he had lost over R1 billion in potential earning due to the illegal gold being extracted from his mine.
“I have lost more than R4 .5bn in potential earnings as a black entrepreneur. I tried to bring in investment and I was blocked by government officials. I was blocked by local officials. They did not want me to create jobs in the North West. This is a highly organised criminal syndicate that I am faced with,” he said.
Mafenya, who is no stranger to attacks, in 2021 saw one of his first major attacks after a group of unidentified heavily armed men stormed one of the mine’s main shafts, destroying critical infrastructure. Two months later, the mine was hit by two more attacks, amounting to tens of million of rand.
Although he reported the three matters to the police right away, he said their failure to investigate previous incidents left him extremely distressed, so much that he lodged a service delivery complaint against the SAPS.
He said his mine was not the only mine taken over by Van Staden and his syndicates, adding that other black mine owners were in the same situation as him.
“My mine is not the only mine that has been taken over by Van Staden. There are other mines and mine owners who should have been here with me today, but they are attending to the illegal occupation and taking over of their mines as we speak,” he said.
Attempts to get comment from Van Staden were unsuccessful at the time of going to publication. The department of minerals said it would revert to us while The Hawks said they were investigating the matter.
“We can confirm that the Hawks are investigating the matter after Mr Mafenya lodged a complaint with us,” said spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo.