Anglo American: Yet Another Community Denied

Anglo American: yet another community denied

12th July 2006

This week we report on an escalation in the conflict between the community of Maandagshoek (South Africa) and Angloplat - a majority-owned subsidiary of Anglo American. On July 6th the community's lawyer, Richard Spoor, was threatened by the company with indictiment for allegations in an article on this website (Black Friday at Monday's Corner, June 25 2006: see "ANGLO'S MAILED FIST" in this week's postings.)

Following this, the ANC leader Jacob Zuma appointed Supreme Court Advocate, Jurg Prinsloo - a former pro-apartheid Conservative Party MP - to bring defamation charges against a number of publications and individuals for impugning his reputation.

Mr Prinsloo has, since 2003, been employed by Angloplat in its five year battle against another black South African community. According to the secretary of the Ga Mawela Land Claims Committee Prinsloo "reneged on a signed agreement between the community and the company accepting the validity of the land claim", while his recent "interrogation of community members in the land claims court was reminiscent of mindset of the architects of apartheid and forced removals."

The community's members are now at the final stages of the court process, which involves obtaining an order of court for the expropriation of the territory appropriated in the name of Angloplat subsidiary, Rustenburg Platinum Mines, denying the community's plan for the sustainable use and development of the land.

In June 2004 the community won the first stage of the court case to prove the legal validity of its land claim under the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 2004. The land restitution process is part of the national land reform programme, aimed at redressing past racial measures to dispossess black communities of their ancestral lands.

What follows are a MEDIA STATEMENT FROM THE GA MAWELA LAND CLAIMS COMMITTEE, and two documents setting out for the land claims court details of the community's struggle against the company; the community's appeal for the restoration of its ancestral land; and the history of the community. These are now part of the submissions before the court, whose next hearing on the case is scheduled for 26 July 2006.

The community can be contacted c/o Tiny Mankge, Secretary of the Ga Mawela Land Claims Committee, cel +27-82-9417623.

The community is represented by Ms Durkje Gilfillan, Legal Resources Centre, tel. +27-11-8369831, durkje@lrc.org.za

Anglo Platinum can be contacted c/o Mr Simon Tebele, mstebele@amplats.co.za