NOTHING SINISTER ON QUARRY SITE – GOVT

MBABANE – Government has insisted that there was nothing sinister about the deployment of soldiers to a private farm owned by businessman Mandla Mkhaliphi.

In a press statement issued yesterday, government, through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, said the army was requested to provide security at the Sicunusa quarry site on Portion 3, Farm 982 to protect the natural resource from being mined illegally. In fact, government has claimed that such an undertaking and cooperation from the security forces was normal, exercised at all abandoned mine sites around the country to safeguard the nation’s mineral resources. This publication wanted to ascertain if there was a justified reason for the deployment of soldiers to someone’s property. The ministry said it requested the deployment of the soldiers after ascertaining that NDI Investments and or one of its directors (Mkhaliphi) engaged in an illegal operation from around December, 2020 for the production of stone aggregates (inkwali) without authorisation.

Offence

“Mkhaliphi committed an offence in terms of the Mines and Minerals Act of 2011 Section 141 by this conduct, The Act provides that such an offender on conviction, is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to a El00 000 fine or to both,” reads part of the statement. Worth noting from the statement is that the ministry has blamed Mkhaliphi for not following the right procedure when applying for the renewal of his quarry mine licence. In the statement, the ministry confirmed that NDI applied and was granted a five-year quarry mining licence from November 2013 to November 2018. In the lease agreement, according to the ministry, NDI was entitled to apply to the Minerals Management Board (MMB) for renewal or extension of the lease for a further period of five years provided that it did so three months before the expiry of the initial five-year period. “Further, the Mines and Minerals Act No. 4 of 2011 (MMA) under Section 67 provides that a holder of a mining licence may apply for the renewal of the licence not later than one year before the expiry of the term of a mining licence. In this instance, NDI did not exercise its right within the stipulated timelines (which is discretional in terms of the agreement), but opted to lodge an application for renewal in February 2021 more than 25 months after the expiry date,” it was stated in the statement.

Furthermore, the ministry said the date on the application for renewal of the quarry licence was the same day that the alleged illegal operation was stopped. “However, the application was submitted or lodged a week later to the ministry. Secondly, the quarry site sits on two adjacent private properties (farms); one owned by Mkhaliphi and another owned by a private company. The allegation that a farm owner is being prejudiced is false and misguided,” the ministry stated.

Confusion

The ministry said the whole issue had caused confusion in the minds of the general public and assured that all mineral resources shall be protected to benefit all emaSwati as opposed to individuals who may want to benefit without having followed the laid down legal procedures. Also, the ministry decried that the recent articles on the issue created a false impression that NDI Investments was being frustrated to get a quarry mining licence renewed. An effort was made to get Mkhaliphi to react to the ministry’s statement. In particular, this publication wanted to ascertain if he applied for the renewal later than the stipulated time as per the ministry’s statement.

Applied

He responded by saying; “I applied in September 2018 and re-submitted this year in February. The acting commissioner advised us hence the operations. I will issue a comprehensive statement in due course,” he said. In our publication yesterday, Mkhaliphi was quoted saying he feared that the recent developments were part of a hostile takeover of his farm. He also said he was concerned that the attempt involved a member of the royal family, who also happened to be a senior member of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF). He also emphasised that hostility would never be a solution in business.

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