Home | News | BUSINESSMAN ALMOST LOSES E1M IN DVOKOLWAKO MINE SCAM

BUSINESSMAN ALMOST LOSES E1M IN DVOKOLWAKO MINE SCAM

24/02/2020 01:34:00 BY NTOMBI MHLONGO

Font size:

MBABANE - A major syndicate, involving con men purporting that Dvokolwako Diamond Mine has been reopened, has been intercepted.

In fact, the operations of the con men, through the syndicate, had some businesspeople asking themselves if indeed government had finally awarded someone the licence to reopen and operate the Dvokolwako Diamond Mine.

The answer to the above is no!

Instead, it appears there are con men who are going around claiming to have been granted the licence to reopen the mine.
They are luring unsuspecting businesspeople to supply them with equipment for the operation of the mine. This is despite the fact that government has not made any announcement to the effect that the mine is now operational.

Trap

Businessman Gordon Crawford, who is based in Big Bend, in the Lubombo Region, almost fell for the trap.
Crawford owns a company called African Connections, which supplies industrial and solar equipment and also offers procurement services.
Had Crawford not become suspicious of some of the documentation relating to the tender, he would be crying a bucketful of tears as the suspected con men would have got away with close to E1 million, which he would have paid for the supply of the items.

Crawford allegedly received a call through an MTN Eswatini cellphone number where the caller claimed that the mine was sending proposals inviting experienced suppliers to tender for the supply of equipment. The call was to inform the businessman that he would be receiving an email and that he had to act fast if he was interested in the tender.
After the call, Crawford’s company received an email containing a document of the proposal.

Letterhead

According to the document, which Crawford shared with this publication, the suspected con men has a properly crafted letterhead of ‘their own’ Dvokolwako Diamond Mine.

Among the details reflected on the letterhead is that the mine’s operations are stationed at the 3rd Floor, Lilunga House, Somhlolo Road in Mbabane. A postal address is also provided and a cellphone number, including a fax number.
Interestingly, there is no email address on the letterhead. According to Crawford, he received a request for a quote (RFQ) on his company’s email address. Crawford’s company was to supply four of what is known as Holtz heavy duty pumps and four Holtz hydraulic jack hammers, which are used for drilling purposes.

“We received the email from these people and yes, we were aware that for years there had been talks to reopen the Dvokolwako Diamond Mine. I am an engineer by profession and I have never heard of such,” Crawford said.
The businessman said he searched on the internet for the aforementioned equipment and that instead a name of a South African company came up.

Surprised

“I was very surprised because almost within 10 minutes I received a purchase order back. Honestly, in my experience with various companies, you are lucky if you receive a quotation within 24 hours,” he said.

For the four pumps, Crawford would have forked out E367 800 as the South African company would have charged him E91 950 for each.
To secure the four hammers, he would have paid the South African company E127 800 as each one costs E31 950.
Also, Crawford would have spent E17 342 for transport of the equipment from South Africa to Eswatini.

“I looked at their quotation and merged it with my own company handling fees. I sent the quote to the people who claimed to be from Dvokolwako Diamond Mine. And again, I was very surprised because within half an hour, I got a reply. My experience in business is that after you send in your quotation; you are lucky if the people respond within a week to your quotation,” he said.

Approved

The reply from the mine was nothing but good news for Crawford as it stated that his proposal had been approved.
He said in the reply, the so-called Dvokolwako Diamond Mine people stated that they were in a rush but that they liked his prices and that Crawford should go ahead and get the items.

In his quotation to the ‘mine’, Crawford was to charge them E459 748 for the pumps, E159 748 for the hammers and E21 342 for transport.
“I made it clear that I was worried since I did not know them. I am only prepared to deal with people I know. This is because here we were talking about an order for expensive equipment,” he said.

Elaborating, he said the ‘mine operators’ kept calling him a couple of times, which made him worry even more.
“That is not the way you do business. I have experienced a situation where people tried to con me before. I know that they keep on pushing you, saying they are in a rush so that you can become confused and make irrational decisions fast,” he explained.
Crawford said he asked his son to check the supposed address of the mine on the RFQ papers and it reflected that it was situated at the Lilunga House in Mbabane.

“My son went there and discovered that there was no such thing as the Dvokolwako Diamond Mine. Instead it was just the Department of Mines. My son said when he asked about the mine, he was informed that the office had received a number of calls from concerned businesspeople asking about the so-called people operating the mine,” Crawford said.

He mentioned that he was of the view that the modus operandi used by the suspected con men was to get his company to place an order with the South African company.
“Their plan must have been that we would pay for the equipment and then not have it delivered. I would have to pay so much money and sit here thinking the equipment would come within a few days yet there was nothing coming,” he stated.
Crawford said he strongly believed that the suspected con men were in the Kingdom of Eswatini but operated in such a way that they had partners in South Africa.

“It must be a cartel because when you go to the internet and search the company that sells the pumps, at first glance it looks authentic but you then see so many spelling mistakes. There is a lot that is spelt wrong. A professional company wouldn’t do such.
“At first glance, the website looks legitimate but then there are only three pages there.”

Efforts by this publication to get hold of the owner of the cellphone number, which is reflected on the letterhead, were not successful as it rang unanswered.
The last call was made at 1pm yesterday. On another note, this reporter contacted the fax number reflected on the letterhead and it turned out that it was the landline for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Minerals and Mines Department.

Confirmed

One of the officers who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that they had been receiving calls from concerned businesspeople asking about the same issue.
The South African company involved could not be traced on the internet. It should be noted that the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini has for over 10 years been working around the clock to ensure that the mining sector realises its potential growth. At the Dvokolwako Mine, diamonds were mined until 1997 but could not proceed as the investor had to do underground mining.

Revoke

In 2008, there was another applicant who was given a licence and in 2012, the investor was supposed to bring forth capital but could not thus government decided to revoke the licence. Between 2012 and 2014, government worked on deregistering the potential investor who failed to abide by the requirements. In March 2015, it was announced that a new entrant into the mining sector was to be unveiled in about six months. The investor had been earmarked to mine diamonds at the mine.

At the time, it was said there were about six prospective applicants for the diamond mine at Dvokolwako, most of whom were from South Africa.
The investor was to be granted mining rights to be able to extract the diamond, contribute to the surrounding community and also invest in processing the mineral locally. The announcement came just after the country had finalised the procurement process for the Kimberly Process Certificates (KPCS). This meant that Eswatini was now legalised to operate in diamonds. The KPCS is the process designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds from sources which are free of conflict, funded by diamond production.