Most of the big mining companies and businesses involved and operated in South Africa are all B-BBEE – some relevant to a foreign country. The board members, chief executives, directors, share holders, those who deals with diamonds, gold or other minerals can not claim they are poor. The South African mining industry is most well-known for its gold, diamonds, platinum and coal resources. But the country is also host to chrome, iron ore, manganese, vanadium, titanium and a number of other lesser, but expensive minerals.

On the other hand, the South African government (Mineral Resources) is responsible for the mining permits and receive an income from them and they are also responsible for the rehabilitation when mining has been completed. Mine reclamation is also a process and part of responsibilities, to rehabilitate all areas as it was before mining started. But that did not happen for years now. Millions of hectares of mining lands iland after coal mining operations have stopped. It is a requirement of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977. … Reclamation should allow for the area to be resistant to soil erosion and, based on the soil requirements, fertilized and revegetated.

The British people were in control in 1902 of all mines in Southern Africa, note the date, there was a Union of South Africa since 1910. There were a shortage of workers in the mines, then they decided from LONDON to make use of Chinese and mostly African immigrants. More than 400000 immigrants were imported from mostly African countries and China.

At a later stage between 1902 and 1961 it was well-known to those governments – 1910 and 1948 to make use of immigrants in the mining field.

At a later stage, most of those 400 000 + immigrants then demanded to vote in South Africa while they have countries of their own. Most of them were living in hostels around the mines. (Witwatersrand and Kimberley).

At that stage, there were still Reserves or British crownlands in place, given to the local ethnic groups by “negotiations – Shepstone Policy” but ruled by themselves and their own leaders, not the Afrikaners or Boers.

Those areas were called Reserves or British Crownlands and later became Homelands, in the old ZAR and were not part of the ZAR or Freestate. Not now, not then. That same areas the ethnic leaders called it after 1994 Trustland or CPA’s (land claims). Although

Those Reserves and British Crownlands were recognised as theirs by the Union government of 1910 in union documents.

They all demanded better lifestyles and housing. Later, it became the Afrikaner and Boer problem and to meet their requirements. Same happened today in South Africa. Foreigners came in, walk over the border and expect free houses, schools, medical treatments, grants, etc.

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Daar is heelwat persone in mynmaatskappye, soos aandeelhouers, sommige name al vergete en verby, tog is hul lande se nageslagte aan die werk om minerale in die suidpunt van Afrika te bekom. Nog voor die Anglo Boere oorlog was daar die vetes en gevegte, die rewolusies wat aangeblaas is deur kommuniste om nie net die minerale te bekom nie, maar SA as seeroete te beheer.

Voor Suid-Afrika in 1910 ontstaan het, het minerale ‘n rol gespeel, veral tydens en net na die Anglo Boere oorlog het die Britte juis die minerale bedryf uit London beheer – in 1902. Hulle het wetgewing ge-implementeer vanuit London – die blankes (Afrikaners en Boere het dit nie beheer nie). Die Britte was nie alleen in hierdie sage om te annekseer nie. Daar was ‘n groot persentasie liberales, wat nie deel is van enige volk nie, wat sommige daar uit die kommunistiese oos-bloklande afkomstig was (daar word van die voorgeslagte gepraat), wat direk hier kom nes skop het om die minerale in te palm en ook die seeroete te beheer.

Na die Britte die rykste onafhanklike lande, die ZAR en Vrystaat, geannekseer het, het hulle (Randlords) die myne geannekseer en beheer uitgeoefen uit London.

Die Unie wetgewing van 1910 is ook vanuit London geskryf en bedryf. Dis ook die Britse regering (saam met Unie regering – lords), wat meer as 400 000 immigrante ingevoer het na 1902 om in hul myne te kom werk – let wel , immigrante is meestal ingevlieg met vliegtuie vanuit Afrika en China ….. en dis ‘n hele geskiedenis opsigself hoe die 400000 immigrante in en rondom minerale stede kom plak het, en aangedring het op “goedkoop verblyf, gratis dienste en selfs stemreg, en vandag maak hulle aanspraak op grond wat langer as geslagte lank in burgers se besit is”. Myners het in haglike omstandighede gebly, en later op stemreg aangedring (alhoewel hul almal immigrante was en ook ‘n land van oorsprong gehad het). In hierdie twee geannekseerde gebiede en gedeeltes van die ou Kaapkolonie, was die goud en diamante wat die Britse ryk nog meer

Interessant om te weet dat Lesotho, wat ook ryk is aan diamante ‘n groot rol speel in sekere leiers – Britse “protektoraat”. Hoe gereeld word “bekende” gesigte uit Engeland nie in Lesotho gesien nie?

En die vraag is, die wat alles so wil nasionaliseer, veral die boer se inkomste, besigheid en grond, hoekom word diamante en ander minerale se rykdomme, aandele en rykdomme nie met die burgers (nie immigrante nie) van Suid-Afrika, Lesotho, en ander Afrika lande gedeel nie? Diamante is nie net vir elites en die biljoenêrs nie? Waar kry die biljoenêrs die rykdomme vandaan – uit Afrika grond uit. Suid-Afrika is nie ‘n arm land nie, maar dit word geplunder.

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HISTORICAL NAMES AND NEW NAMES IN THE DIAMOND BOAT



In February 2018, Mantashe was appointed South African Minister of Mineral Resources. Trade unionist Mantashe served for 10 years as general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1997 before becoming secretary general of the ANC in 2007, a position which he held until December 2017. He made history by becoming the first trade unionist to be appointed to the board of directors of a JSE listed company, Samancor, in 1995.

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Minerale – Xolobeni

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Oliphant is the current South African Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources. He is a former vice president of COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of NUM. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1994. Oliphant has a direct connection with the diamond mining industry as he is also a former branch chairperson of NUM at Finsch diamond mine.

In 1873, 20-year old Barney Barnato arrived penniless in South Africa from England. In 1876 he bought four claims in Kimberley mine and later formed Barnato Diamond Mining Company which he merged with Kimberley Central Mining Company in 1883. In 1888, Barnato sold out to Cecil John Rhodes, after much competition between them.

The amalgamation lead to the formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines, the name synonymous with diamonds, and the company which dominated the world’s diamond market for many years. Rhodes had arrived in South Africa in 1870 and invested £3,000 his aunt had lent him in the Kimberley diamond diggings, from where he purchased diamond claims and became prosperous.

Thomas Cullinan, prospector and entrepreneur, was convinced that there were diamonds to be found on the Cornelis Minnaar Farm, Elandsfontein, and purchased the farm in 1902. Cullinan’s optimism was not unfounded. The full extent of the kimberlite diamond pipe was soon established – 32ha in area and the largest in the world – and the Premier Diamond Mining Company was established.

Sir Ernest Oppenheimer was a German-born diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers from 1927 and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. He was succeeded in the business by his son Harry.

Harry headed Anglo American from 1957 to 1982 and De Beers from 1957 to 1984. Harry’s son, Nicky, became De Beers’ chairman in 1998. He retired in 2012 when the family stake in the company was sold to Anglo American. The Oppenheimers’ diamond fortunes provided the capital for development of the gold mining industry. Diamonds could be described as the spark which led South Africa – and mining – into the industrial era.

HISTORICAL PICTURES AND INFORMATION

Interesting map – An old plan showing the relative positions of all holdings in Kimberley Mine in 1883

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Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced first upon the world’s richest deposits of diamonds, and then upon its richest deposits of gold. What followed was a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land, culminating in the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and in the devastation of the Boer republics. Martin Meredith’s magisterial account of those years portrays the great wealth and raw power, the deceit, corruption, and racism that lay behind Britain’s empire-building in southern Africa.

Full Book Name: Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa

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Minerale speel ‘n baie groot rol op ekonomiese front, maar ons burgers deel nie in die winste nie. Vir etlike dekades, selfs voor 1994 was daar min privaat minerale regte toegeken aan privaat individue. Die regering voor 1994 het alles beheer.

Soms is dit ooglopend hoe sekere burgers, veral swartes en anderskleuriges, na 1994 oornag multi-biljoenêrs geword het. Heelwat groot maatskappye is 100% op swart bemagtiging geskoei en steeds word ons as blankes die skuld gegee wat onwaar is dat ons die ekonomie beheer of selfs besit. Dit is presies dieselfde met grondgebiede ook.

Who became super rich after 1994 and all of them (most) are involved with minerals. The poor people do not share anything. Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. Refer to the Anglo Boer Wars and Concentration camps. Same happened to the Zulu people as well – Anglo Zulu War. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating wars that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics and Zulu wars as well.

The author of the book: His descriptions of Rhodes and Kruger, of Robinson and Barnato and all the other actors, rogues and heroes of this epic drama played out upon the scorched African veldt are filled with fascinating insights and rich with anecdotes which bring them bursting from these pages. This is a book that will take a prominent place upon my bookshelf and which I know I will re-read time and again over the years ahead.” — Wilbur Smith, author of The Quest and River God.

He focus on: Rhodes arrived in the region (in Natal) from Britain in 1870 at age 17, a participant in a cotton-farming venture. By the next year he was poised to take advantage of the diamond fever that had taken root. The discovery of diamond deposits transformed the interior of the Cape Colony (which had become British in 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars) from a place deemed “the most sterile and worthless in the whole Empire” to a locus of greed and ambition. When gold, too, turned out to be one of the area’s abundant resources, this time in the Boer territory known as the Transvaal, Rhodes was once again ready for profiteering. By the age of 37 he was not only prime minister of the Cape Colony but also a gold and diamond mogul. He had finagled permission from Queen Victoria to wield private police power as well as public authority.

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Dis ook bekend dat verskeie oorloë befonds moes gewees het uit die verkryging van minerale. Sierra Leone: Geographical and historical treatment of Sierra Leone, including maps and statistics as well as a survey of its people, economy, and government

Blood Diamonds



Diamante – Diamonds

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AGTER ‘N GORDYN – BEHIND CURTAINS

Sekeres van ons voorouers het hier in Suid-Afrika beland weens omstandighede, weens ‘n oorlog (1580-1640) wat in Europa gewoed het waar Christene uitvermoor is, daarna die Franse Rewolusie wat voortgegaan het met die onreg. Vandag volg dit presies dieselfde pad as wat dit ook tydens die Anglo Boere oorlog verloop het. Sekere mense word gebruik om die “vuilwerk” van verwoesting te doen.

Dis een van die redes hoekom ons voorouers, sekeres van die bevolking, opgepak het in die Kaapkolonie, eerder die binneland ingevaar het wat so ruig was, eerder wilde diere getrotseer het en nie onder die Britse vlag wou leef nie – daar was baie van ons voorouers wat nie destyds deelgeneem het aan enige verkiesings nie, want stemreg was daardie tyd ook, nes vandag deur dieselfde “organisasie” gemanipuleer. Onthou die “Frontiers” politieke party gerus. (Afrikanerbond – geheime organisasie)

Interessant dat diegene so in die geheim agter geslote deure gekoukus het om ander uit te wis, vir veral minerale. Ons as blankes word beskuldig dat ons al die grond besit, terwyl die hele land vol myneksplorasiehope en maatskappye is wat deur die regering van die dag toegelaat word of andersinds wildsparke (vir ‘n rede).

Dit word nie openlik gedoen nie … selfs in die Britse heerskappy en die maatskappy, Rhodes het destyds ook aandele aan die Afrikanerbond (wat net uit mans bestaan uit) geskenk. GEEN bevolking bestaan net uit mans uit nie. Die Afrikanerbond is sekere elemente in ons bevolking, maar sluit baie hieruit.

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THE SECRET SOCIETY

In The Secret Society, Robin Brown unpacks some astonishing and largely unknown history. He brings Cecil John Rhodes, his companions and his successors to life by drawing from diaries and letters, and sheds new light on Rhodes’s homosexuality.

Ranging from the diamond mines of Kimberley to the halls of power in Westminster, and peopled with characters such as General Gordon, Leander Starr Jameson, W.T. Stead, Olive Schreiner, the Princess Radziwill, Joseph Chamberlain and David Lloyd George, this book is a page-turner that will make you see the world, both past and present, in a different light.

It is fitting in the year of #RhodesMustFall to be contemplating a book on Rhodes.

Rhodes made a fortune from diamonds and gold, became Cape Colony prime minister, and had a country named after him – and until recently had a statue erected in his honour at UCT – but his ambitions were far greater than that. When he was still in his 20s, after a meeting with General Gordon of Khartoum, Rhodes set up a Secret Society with the aim of establishing a new world order.