The Nama’s once mineral-rich land has left them in poverty

There’s a disturbing contrast on South Africa’s far west coast.

The 800 km (500 mi) journey north from Cape Town begins with views of outstanding natural beauty that transform into a moon-like floral patterned landscape as the long route progresses and approaches the northern border.

And the scars left by a lucrative diamond mining industry aren’t just physical.

Living amidst environmental degradation in the far north-west of South Africa, also known as Namaqualand, the impoverished local Nama community wonders what has happened to the riches their land provides.

Some of the hundreds of millions of dollars earned went to building the country, but it seems that not much of it stayed in the region.

The Nama, who include Southern Africa and Namibia, are descendants of indigenous nomadic peoples (Khoi and San) who are considered the original human inhabitants of this part of the world.

Despite winning a legal battle over land and mining rights in the Richtersveld, part of Namaqualand, more than two decades ago, many in the community claim they have yet to see any benefits.

Standing amid the dilapidated empty shell of a former mine in the coastal border town of Alexander Bay, Andries Josephs, who worked there before being laid off two decades ago, shakes his head.

“There are no jobs, that’s the problem. People stagnated, everything went wrong. Buildings collapsed. Unemployment went through the roof,” he says.

The diamond industry in this part of the region has declined in recent years, as most of the precious stones in the land are thought to have been found, leaving behind economic and social problems.

About a kilometer away from this derelict mine is a residential area consisting of a few houses, a ruined church building and a hospital providing basic services with some damaged windows.

The local government’s development plan also includes “dilapidated” water and electricity infrastructure, as well as poor roads affecting access to things like healthcare.

A century ago, exploration by gem prospectors south of the Orange River, which now forms part of South Africa’s border with Namibia, led to a diamond rush that changed the country forever.

But Nama already knew about jewels.

“In our family, they taught children to count with diamonds,” says Martinus Fredericks.

In 2012, Nama elders appointed him as their leader in South Africa. The 60-year-old man says his ancestors called him to fight for the return of their land.

The Namas were once shepherds and traders until European “settlers came and disrupted their way of life,” according to Mr. Fredericks.

The area they lived in was annexed by the Cape Colony (now part of South Africa) in the mid-19th century, and the Nama were then cleared from the lands around the Orange River following the discovery of diamonds in the 1920s.

Nothing changed during the apartheid system or after the first democratic elections and the end of white minority rule in 1994.

The new government, led by the African National Congress, maintained its previous stance that greater benefits would be achieved by sharing the diamond wealth produced in these regions with the rest of the country.

The Namas were not happy and this unrest continues today.

“If you go to an area like the Richtersveld, you see how poor the people are,” Mr. Fredericks says.

“They are unemployed. They make ends meet and have no real hope.

“I’m not against development, but it should be to the extent that it benefits the community as a partner.”

Everything should be different.

After a five-year legal battle with the state and state-owned mining company Alexkor that ended in the country’s highest court, judges ruled in favor of the Nama community in 2003.

The Constitutional Court said the Namas have an inalienable right to their ancestral lands and the minerals therein.

But four years later, Alexkor signed an agreement with the Richtersveld Common Ownership Association (CPA), which purportedly represented Nama, giving 51% of the mining rights to the company, with 49% going to the community and an entity called the Richtersveld Mining Company.

But Mr Fredericks argues that the CPA does not represent Nama and that the deal was made without the consent of the wider community. He claims that despite the Constitutional Court decision, 20 years later, they have yet to profit from the deal or any wealth gained over the decades.

Alexkor disputes this, telling the BBC that “it is wrong to say that the community has not benefited from the land claim”.

It was stated that Alexkor paid 190 million rand ($11 million; £8.4 million) in “compensation” and 50 million rand ($2.9 million) in development grants to the Richtersveld Investment Holding Company (RIHC) over a three-year period.

But Alexkor’s executive chairman, Dineo Peta, who took over earlier this year, acknowledged that the company was “not oblivious to the fact that the community is not receiving the full economic benefit from the operations.” In an interview with the BBC he blamed it on “mismanagement and abuse within Alexkor”.

The previous administration was investigated by a special commission. “state capture”. The commission’s 2022 report revealed corruption; these findings are currently being investigated but have not resulted in any convictions.

The issue of what happened to the money transferred to the CPA was raised at a recent parliamentary hearing.

MP Bino Farmer said during a briefing the Select Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Mineral Resources had heard from the rural development ministry that the CPA was “dysfunctional”.

“It was also revealed that over 300 million rand ($17.6 million) was paid by the ministry but the people of the community received nothing,” he added.

The CPA was not present at the hearing, but the chairman of the select committee said it “expressed dissatisfaction, stating that the relevant national departments did not adequately support the implementation of the law”. [Constitutional] Court order.”

The BBC contacted the CPA several times to find out what had happened to the money but did not receive a response.

“[We] “We should be in a much better position because we are the true custodians of this land,” Mr. Fredericks says.

Apart from money, the community leader has another concern: the environment.

“Big companies come in, plunder the land, take what they can and walk away without rehabilitation, leaving the recipient community to deal with the after-effects of mining,” he claims.

“The Nama people used to mine themselves, but they did it sustainably; they knew both how to use the resources in the land and how to remediate the land after use.”

The damage left behind by commercial mining is hard to miss.

Some mines remain abandoned and there are few signs of rehabilitation.

Instead, there was clear evidence that the land had been excavated, leaving an ugly landscape behind.

The mine at Hondeklipbaai, once owned by mining giant Trans Hex, appeared abandoned.

This is not part of the Richtersveld region but is still considered Nama land.

In a letter to the BBC, Trans Hex said it sold the field five years ago but “despite being the owner of the mining rights, it has complied with its legal obligations, including providing full financial provision for the rehabilitation of the mining areas”.

But he added that Trans Hex is no longer responsible for the rehabilitation now that it has sold the site.

Another mining giant, De Beers, says it has transferred its responsibility to repair the environment by selling its shares in mines on the west coast.

However, an email sent to the BBC said: “As part of the sale agreement with Kleinzee Holdings in 2023, De Beers Consolidated Mines has committed 50 million rand ($3 million) to support rehabilitation work in the area.”

There are concerns that environmental damage could go further south as mining companies slowly move towards the coast.

The BBC has asked the ministry of forestry, fisheries and the environment to respond to allegations that many mining companies are not adequately rehabilitating the land they mine.

Dion George, who was minister until last month, said he was unavailable for comment, adding that communicating through the media “is not helpful and does not lead to progress”.

New Secretary Willie Aucamp, who has been in office for less than a month, was not immediately available for comment.

But Mr Fredericks is clear about what needs to happen next.

“The government should return what is ours,” he says.

To change things, he took legal action against the CPA, the group that was supposed to run things on behalf of his community, saying it wasn’t set up properly.

“A Nama people cannot be a Nama people without control of the Nama lands. A Nama person cannot be separated from the Nama lands because of the inherent bond between the person and the land.”