Johannesburg – The fight over the control of the Bapo Ba Mogale community, owners of the platinum-rich land between Rustenburg and Brits, has taken a twist with one of the warring factions having approached the Zondo commission to probe the missing millions from the so-called “D account”.
The “D account” is a community trust account, with the letter D representing “development” because the funds are meant for the development of the community.
Sunday World has seen an affidavit prepared by the Moerane family, who are embroiled in a dispute about the chieftaincy of the land, in which they are asking the state capture commission to investigate the missing money.
The Moerane family wants the commission to subpoena the appearance of 23 witnesses, including North West’s former premiers, all three former cooperative governance and traditional affairs MECs in the province, and the current MEC.
The family also wants former public protector Thuli Madonsela and the incumbent Busisiwe Mkhwebane to shed light on the matter.
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The Moerane family is also seeking judge Zondo to compel President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish a special tribunal, headed by a retired judge, to investigate issues of the community.
It also wants the Special Investigating Unit, the National Prosecuting Authority, Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke and Mkhwebane to “make available all necessary records in assisting the judge president in concluding his/her investigations without fear, favour or prejudice”.
“These investigations cannot be left unattended as it means money lost or stolen would never be recovered and those perpetrators would not be prosecuted and such malfeasances and maladministration streaming from the capture will persist and create undue hardships for the royal family and or traditional community,” the request penned by the Moerane family’s lawyer, Louie Mogaki reads in part.
Madonsela in July 2016 met with the community of Bapo-Ba-Mogale outside Brits in North West to provide a preliminary report on her investigation into allegations of systematic looting of the community’s collective resources, including funds held in the “D account”.
Among the issues the Madonsela was asked to investigate were the amount of money that had gone into the account from 1994. Madonsela had found that funds that were in the account, which amounted to more than R617-million, had been looted and the balance in the account had dropped to just over R495 000 by 2014.
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The royalties are said to come from mining company, Lonmin and other businesses mining on the community’s land.
“The legal value chain must establish a rational nexus between the interest of the public and/or royal family and those of the commission seeking to hold officials accountable on money laundering, racketeering and or looted mining royalties,” Mogaki’s request reads.
James Wellsted, Sibanye-Stillwater’s spokesperson, said the “D account” was a legacy issue of the old Lonmin.
“Upon the acquisition of Lonmin by Sibanye- Stillwater, which was concluded in June 2019, the Bapo’s shareholding in Lonmin was converted to an equivalent value shareholding in Sibanye-Stillwater based on the offer ratio,” he said.
There have been two commissions set up by the North West government in an attempt to settle which family is the rightful ruling house.
In 2011, the provincial government established the Mafereka commission, which was followed by the [Sesi] Baloyi commission, which found that the House of Frederick Maruatona, represented in present-day by the House of Bob Edward Mogale, was the rightful ruling house.
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The Moerane family has since lodged a complaint against Baloyi with the Johannesburg Society of Advocates. Baloyi did not answer questions sent to her on Thursday.
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