‘What happened to our millions?’

Johannesburg - The platinum-rich community of Bapo Ba Mogale has nothing to show for its wealth despite proof that mining companies have deposited millions of rand in royalties into its coffers.

Allegations are that millions of rand in royalties paid to mostly undeveloped communities could have been redirected to unintended hands, robbing the communities.

The North West provincial legislature’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) heard on Tuesday from Lonmin - one of the mining companies operating in Bapo communities - that R372.9 million was paid in the past four decades - but the Bapo community has little knowledge of where the money went.

Scopa chairman Patrick Chauke said they had decided to call mining companies to confirm their contributions after reports that millions of royalties paid to communities have gone missing, apparently without a trace.

Mining communities have been depositing royalties due to tribal communities into a trust account known as D-account. About 100 tribal councils hosting mining companies are listed under the account.

But it has since emerged that the account has not been audited for 19 years. This means there were no confirmed statements on how hundreds of millions of rands were handled.

It also appeared millions of rands were debited from the account in the names of communities but the money never benefited those communities.

Chauke said Scopa was told that R151m was withdrawn in the name of Bapo since January - but this was news to the community.

Bapo spokesman Vladimir Mogale said: “If the money was withdrawn in our name then it was the administrator who did it without consultation with the community, hence we can’t point to anything on which that R151m could have been spent.

“Our area remains underdeveloped with no schools, hospitals, halls, roads and other services despite all the millions paid to us.

“We’re hoping for this process to help us find answers.”

The Star