Times Of Swaziland: NOTHING SINISTER ON QUARRY SITE  – GOVT

NOTHING SINISTER ON QUARRY SITE  – GOVT
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BY NTOMBI MHLONGO on 16/03/2021 08:04:00


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.