An illegal shipment of illicit gemstones, allegedly from a mine co-owned by one of Patrice Motsepe’s companies, was stopped by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) from departing OR Tambo International for Hong Kong and China earlier this year.
The contraband, which was being exported by an Asian man, was intercepted by Sars’s customs department after it received a tip-off from whistleblowers.
The mining company, Assmang, a joint venture between Motsepe’s African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and a company named Assore, was implicated in the unlawful export of the gemstones, by Chang Chinfu, who states in an affidavit he deposed on May 10 that he is
“Taiwanese-Chinese.”
In the affidavit, which we have seen, Chinfu stated under oath that his company,
Asuca International, had “multiple times exported and attempted to export the sugilite gemstones, blue and purple, using Air Menzies International Freight Forwarding Services and other freight forwarding services”.
Chinfu states that he “received and transacted” the sugilite from the “management” of Blackrock Mine, also known as Assmang, in Kuruman, Northern Cape.
The company mines manganese ore at the Black Rock mining complex in the Nchwaning and Gloria mines.
Assmang has no licence to mine or trade in sugilite, a by-product of manganese.
Chinfu’s operation was halted in February when Kuruman sugilite permit owners caught wind of the movement of the gemstones via the black market to Asia.
The Sars team at OR Tambo International Airport received the information, and intercepted the consignment.
Sources told Sunday World that authorities seized several shipments, worth about R700-million, from multiple exporters, including Chinfu, who were unable to produce either an export licence or permit.
Customs retained some of the shipments at the airport.
Chinfu claimed that no one informed him about the requirement for a mining and export licence to engage in gemstone transactions, and that, “Blackrock Mine management told me that it is not a requirement”.
Shane Paul, a shipping agent, also wrote an affidavit pertaining to the seizure.
Paul said that on January 26, he processed an application for exporting rough stones to Hong Kong.
“Shipment was stopped by customs, and we were made aware that it was stopped and seized. Once we were advised of the stoppage of the shipment, we were told that there will be a further investigation to determine where the stones were bought or sourced, and customs took over the shipment.”
Records revealed that boxes, plastic bags and a steel drum concealed several shipments of the stones.
The largest, at 211kg, was valued at R201-million, followed by 102kg (R102-million), 98kg (R242-million), 79kg (R201-million), 62kg (R18-million), 33kg (R62-million), 30kg (R30-million), and 4kg valued at R7-million.
Sunday World learnt that Sars allegedly failed to return the seized gemstones in their custody to the police and the rightful owner, identified as PP Gemstones Mining & Exporting.
Lawyers for PP Gemstones told Sars, “from the facts, our client is the only party that has a legitimate claim to the detained goods as the goods are coming from the mining area wherein it has the exclusive right to mine the gemstones”.
“Furthermore, from the information available to our client, none of the consignors have been able to provide Sars with the necessary permits to obtain the release of the goods for exportation to the intended destination as per the cleared entries.”
According to lawyers at NLV Attorneys, another individual attempted to claim the stones, but the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) correspondence clearly shows that the said individual received her mining permit only on May 7.
“We understand that there have been several requests from the SAPS for the release of the goods from Sars to them in order to finalise the investigation of the said theft case; however, Sars has not even responded to that request,” said lawyers Oratile Legalatladi and
Lunga Vilakazi.
On August 8, the police approached the court for a subpoena to force Sars to allow the investigating officer to view the confiscated goods and other probe-related information.
The magistrates’ court in Kuruman ordered Sars’s Abner Kekana, the customs manager at OR Tambo, to appear before it on August 30.
Assmang was further implicated by a security guard for Bidvest Security Company.
In his affidavit dated April 16, Tebogo Freddie Selaledi states that Bidvest Security Company contracted with Assmang to search and detain any miners and workers found in possession of sugilite gemstones.
Selaledi further states that the management received the sugilite gemstones found on 38 workers as evidence.
In January 2020, PP Gemstones, together with a family trust of Pitso Matebesi, applied for three mining permits to mine gemstones in Kuruman, including sugilite but excluding diamonds.
The application encompassed areas under Assmang, which solely engages in manganese mining.
The Northern Cape’s DMRE regional manager accepted the application on July 13, 2020, and issued an environmental authorisation on June 30, 2021.
On June 14, 2021, Assmang filed an appeal with the department against the regional manager’s decision to accept the application for a mining permit. The appeal was dismissed.
In August 2022, the director general of DMRE Jacob Mbele told Werksmans Attorneys, representing Assmang, that their appeal lacked merit and gave other reasons for the dismissal.
He explained the difference between the licence of manganese ore and the gemstones PP Gemstones had applied for, and that if Assmang had wished to mine the sugilite, they should have applied for the proper mining permits.
According to a letter dated July 23, 2020, Yadah Consulting, the environmental consultants for PP Gemstones, approached Assmang directors to inform them about the mining permit applications.
On July 25, Yadah additionally published an advertisement in a local newspaper in the
area informing interested and affected parties of the application and environmental impact assessment.
In November last year, the high court returned the dispute between Assmang and PP Gemstones to the government. The judge reasoned that the department’s regional manager, upon learning that Assmang denied any consultation during the environmental authorisation process, ought to have conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations. The court also ordered Assmang to cooperate with the process.
In April, the regional manager authored an email affirming the validity of the gemstone mining permits to the holders.
PP Gemstones claims that despite the issuance of the permits, Assmang has denied them access to the property.
According to Sars spokesperson Anton Fisher, the revenue collector “cannot comment on this matter by divulging confidential taxpayer information, including any comment on ongoing investigations”.
Pitso Matebesi, PP Gemstones director, said that since 2019, various efforts to discuss the sugilite discovery amicably with Assmang had been blocked, despite using official DMRE channels, consultants, and lawyers.
“I believe Mr Patrice Motsepe is aware of the issue. In January, I sought a meeting with MrMatlala, Mr Motsepe’s right-hand man, to resolve the matter with Assmang and ARM as per court instructions.”
Matebesi said Matlala referred him to ARM’s representative executive at Assmang, “who was hostile and threatened that Assmang would use financial and political power against us”
“After further failed attempts, we reported the issue to Sars and opened a criminal case with SAPS for sugilite smuggling.”
Assmang said through a spokesperson that “the company’s policy has always been to fully comply with all laws in South Africa and to cooperate with the police whenever there are allegations of improper or illegal activities.”
“Assmang will also initiate its own internal investigations and will report in due course when the investigations have been concluded.”
