BLESBOKFONTEIN – Expert Sand Mining company owners operate a mine without the proper knowledge of the mine’s responsibilities with some expired documents dating as far as 2016 and also fail on their CSI responsibilities.
Waaikraal community members nabbed Expert Sand Mining company based in Blesbokfontein near Waaikraal on its failure to comply with the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act no. 28 of 2002) while it continues to operate.
Chief Ndabezitha Mahamba of Waaikraal, who was amongst the community members, said they will not leave until the mine’s operating documents that are handed over to them to see if the mine complies with the mining Act. “The last time I was here you promised me that you will get back to me [regarding the operating documents] but you did not and that was in 2016 and again in 2018 I came and you promised me the same thing. It has been more than 5 years and you always tell me that you are selling the mine but you haven’t, so today please show us those documents”, said Mahamba.
The following conditions were discovered on how the mine was operating: Expert Sand and Hardware (Pty) Ltd BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) certification has since expired in June 2016, making it more than 3 years without compliance. The owners of the mine have not renewed it by February 2020.
CSI (Corporate Social Investment) document was not in place to which surprisingly the co-owners of the mine, Davi du Plessis and Herold Windell said they did not know what a CSI is. Windell surprisingly even asked, “What is a CSI? It is the first time I hear about it.” The two co-owners confirmed that the mine contributes nothing to the surrounding communities under the CSI responsibility as any mining company should comply with.
The Environmental Impact Assessment report was not compliant as it includes consultation with the surrounding farm owners only but excluded the residents to which du Plessis confessed. “We only went to the farm owner there, and the other one there. We did not go to the community for consultation”, which Community member Rasta responded to, “It means you only care about your white counterparts but not the community nearby. You just care that you are giving them jobs but their health does not matter to you and you do not even care about ploughing back.
Some mineworkers were found to be working in casual clothes and shoes. Some said they did not even sign a contract and did not have a provident fund policy to which du Plessis and Windell claimed that it was because they have not worked for two years yet.
The two co-owners reported that there are other three silent co-owners of the mining company. They further claimed that since the previous owner named Mike, who passed away in 2018, they have not checked the documents, which Constance Mahamba responded to, “Is it an excuse that since Mike passed away you cannot operate with proper documentation?”, asked Mahamba.
The community members requested the owners to seize with operations and also release the mine workers due to non-compliance until all documentation is fixed. An unnamed mine worker reported that after two weeks of being released from their duties, the owners called some to come back but left out others including himself. He said he does not why however what he remembered was that during the time, “When we had to sign contracts, Davi wanted us to just sign the employment contract without reading it, so some of us [those that were not called back] insisted that we read it first, so he took thee unsigned contracts and never brought them back,” said Msiza.
Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) communication office said they will investigate and report back to the “allegations” regarding the mine. By the time of print, there was no response and it remains to be seen what steps DMR will take against the mines with so many failures to comply with the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act no. 28 of 2002).
