Communal land and the attitudes of the Bafokeng on benefits from mineral rights

ABSTRACT

This study examines the benefits received by the Royal Bafokeng Nation of northwestern South Africa from mining on their traditional lands, and the attitudes of community members towards those benefits. Key to this discussion is the role of communal land ownership. The author surveyed 493 members of this community to determine if they were satisfied with services provided by the Royal Bafokeng Administration (RBA). The research found that, in a context of severe inequality, widespread unemployment, negative impacts from nearby mines and migrant labour, centralisation of benefits to Phokeng, and perceptions of mismanagement and corruption, there was widespread dissatisfaction among the Bafokeng. Addressing these issues, especially the lack of jobs, could mitigate current negative perceptions about services delivered by the RBA.

KEYWORDS:

• Bafokeng
• communal land ownership
• mining
• platinum
• mineral title
• subsidiarity
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

• Centennial and International Postgrad Research Scholarships, Project funding from Sustainable Minerals Institute

• Advisors and mentors: Kathryn Sturman, Saleem Ali, and Sue Cook

• SMI faculty and staff, especially ethics, health and safety

• Royal Bafokeng Administration (RBA), especially Elmie Castleman, Martin Bekker, Moses Maithufi, Lebogang Kgongwana, Ernie Kemm, Gladys Disipi, Mamakie Mothiba, Ian Venter, and RBA legal Dept.

• Surveyors: Lebogang Moeketse, Kamogelo Rangwaga, Tiisetso Rantho, Andile Segidi, Neo, and Karabo,

• Bafokeng people and Supreme Council

• Tommy Mntande, headman of Robega Village, and David Van Wyk of the Benchmarks Foundation

• Lelapa Travel, Seokobale Guest House.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Gary Flomenhoft is an International Post-Graduate and Centennial Scholar PhD Candidate at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) in the Sustainable Minerals Institute of the University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. His research area is the economic value of our common wealth. Prior to enrolling at UQ, Gary was a faculty member for 11 years in Community and International Development and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, USA, and Research Associate and Fellow at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics. Further info at: http://www.uvm.edu/~gflomenh/

ORCID

Gary Flomenhoft http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5162-2809

Notes

1. Communal land or title: A system of land use rights (usufruct) administered by a community governance system, which can include private occupancy, collective ownership, individual and family land rights, but traditionally did not allow alienation or sale. Communal land transactions occur through social relations, and freehold (private) land transactions take place through market transactions.

2. Cawood F & RCA Minnitt, ‘A historical perspective on the economics of the ownership of mineral rights ownership’, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 98, 7, 1998, pp. 369, 370.

3. The term ‘tribe’ was a European settler colonial term used to refer to a traditional community that is culturally or ethnically affiliated. In the Setswana language this is referred to as ‘morafe’ or simply community.

4. Mbenga B & A Manson, 'People of the Dew': A History of the Bafokeng of Phokeng-Rustenburg Region, South Africa, From Early Times to 2000. Auckland Park: Jacana, 2010, 207, p. 151.

5. Ibid.

6. Royal Bafokeng Holdings, Integrated Review 2017, RBH: Johannesburg, p. 19, accessed 9 April 2019, <https://www.bafokengholdings.com/media/annual-reviews.html>.

7. Royal Bafokeng Holdings, Integrated review 2016-Building Resilience Through Diversification. Johannesburg: RBH, 2016, p. 48, accessed 9 April 2019 <https://www.bafokengholdings.com/media/annual-reviews.html>.

8. Royal Bafokeng Administration, M. Bekker, author, Bafokeng Vision 2035, accessed 2 November 2018 <https://www.rbnoperationsroom.com/home/static/en_US/id/54830/title/rbn+vision+booklet.html>.

9. Manson A & B Mbenga, ‘“The richest tribe in Africa”: Platinum-mining and the Bafokeng in South Africa’s North West province, 1965–1999’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 29, 1, 2003, pp. 25–47.

10. Cook S, ‘Community management of mineral resources: The case of the Royal Bafokeng Nation’, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 113, 1, 2013, pp. 61–66.

11. Manson A, ‘Mining and “traditional communities” in South Africa’s “Platinum Belt”: Contestations over land, leadership and assets in North-West Province c .1996–2012’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 39, 2, 2013, pp. 409–23.

12. Cawood F & RCA Minnitt, ‘A historical perspective on the economics of the ownership of mineral rights ownership’, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 98, 7, 1998, pp. 369–76.

13. Bergh JS, ‘“We must never forget where we come from”: The Bafokeng and their land in the 19th century Transvaal’, History in Africa, 32, 2005, pp. 95–115.

14. Cook SE, ‘The business of being Bafokeng, the corporatisation of a tribal authority in South Africa’, Current Anthropology, 52, S3, 2011, pp. S151–S159.

15. Cook S, ‘Community management of mineral resources: The case of the Royal Bafokeng Nation’, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 113, 1, 2013, p. 63.

16. Capps G, ‘Tribal‐landed property: The value of the chieftaincy in contemporary Africa’, Journal of Agrarian Change, 16, 3, 2016, pp. 472, 473.

17. Mbenga B & Manson A, 'People of the Dew': A History of the Bafokeng of Phokeng-Rustenburg Region, South Africa, From Early Times to 2000. Auckland Park: Jacana, 2010, p. 207.

18. Media T, Mining the Future the Bafokeng Story, ed. C Ebooks. Auckland Park, South Africa: Jacana Media, 2011.

19. Cook SE, ‘The business of being Bafokeng, the corporatisation of a tribal authority in South Africa’, Current Anthropology, 52, S3, p. S156.

20. Cook S, ‘Community management of mineral resources: the case of the Royal Bafokeng Nation’, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 113, 1, 2013, pp. 61–66.

21. Cawood F & RCA Minnitt, ‘A historical perspective on the economics of the ownership of mineral rights ownership’, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 98, 7, 1998, p. 370.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Mbenga B & Manson A, 'People of the Dew': a History of the Bafokeng of Phokeng-Rustenburg Region, South Africa, From Early Times to 2000. Auckland Park: Jacana, 2010, 207, p. 16.

25. Bergh JS, ‘“We must never forget where we come from’: The Bafokeng and their land in the 19th century Transvaal’, History in Africa, 32, 2005, p. 100.

26. Media, T., Mining the Future the Bafokeng Story, ed. C Ebooks. Auckland Park, South Africa: Jacana Media, 2011, p. 33.

27. Cook SE, ‘The business of being Bafokeng, the corporatisation of a tribal authority in South Africa’, Current Anthropology, 52, S3, 2011, pp. S151–S159; Bergh JS, ‘“We must never forget where we come from”: The Bafokeng and their land in the 19th century Transvaal’, History in Africa, 31, 2005, pp. 95–115.

28. Royal-Bafokeng-Administration, Bafokeng Oral History, G. Flomenhoft, Editor. 2018.

29. Media T, Mining the Future the Bafokeng Story, ed. C Ebooks. Auckland Park, South Africa: Jacana Media, 2011, p. 35.

30. Manson A & Mbenga B, ‘“The richest tribe in Africa’: Platinum-mining and the Bafokeng in South Africa's North West province, 1965–1999’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 29, 1, 2003, p. 25.

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32. Royal-Bafokeng-Administration, Bafokeng Oral History, G. Flomenhoft, Editor. 2018.

33. Capps G, ‘Tribal-landed property: The value of the chieftaincy in contemporary Africa’, Journal of Agrarian Change, 16, 3, 2016, p. 470.

34. Royal-Bafokeng-Administration, Bafokeng Oral History, G. Flomenhoft, Editor. 2018. p. 35.

35. Bergh JS, ‘“We must never forget where we come from”: The Bafokeng and their land in the 19th century Transvaal’, History in Africa, 32, 2005, p. 108.

36. Mbenga B & A Manson, 'People of the Dew': A History of the Bafokeng of Phokeng-Rustenburg Region, South Africa, From Early Times to 2000. Auckland Park: Jacana, 2010, 207, pp. 87, 88.

37. Claassens A & B Boyle. ‘A promise betrayed: Policies and practice renew the rural dispossession of land, rights and prospects’, Policy Briefing 124, 2015, SAIIA, Johannesburg.

38. Bergh JS, ‘“We must never forget where we come from”: The Bafokeng and their land in the 19th century Transvaal’, History in Africa, 32, 2005, p. 115.

39. Royal-Bafokeng-Administration, Bafokeng Oral History, G. Flomenhoft, Editor. 2018.

40. Mbenga B & A Manson, 'People of the Dew': A History of the Bafokeng of Phokeng-Rustenburg Region, South Africa, From Early Times to 2000. Auckland Park: Jacana, 2010, p. 107.

41. Royal-Bafokeng-Administration, Bafokeng Oral History, G. Flomenhoft, Editor. 2018.

42. Cook SE, ‘The business of being Bafokeng, the corporatisation of a tribal authority in South Africa’, Current Anthropology, 52, S3, 2011, pp. S151–S159.

43. Discouraged workers were not excluded as they are in many unemployment statistics.

44. Royal Bafokeng Administration, Population and Land Use Audit 2016, Bekker and Kgongwana, Editors. 2016, Phokeng, South Africa. p. 7.

45. Ibid.

46. Royal Bafokeng Administration, Population and Land Use Audit 2016, Bekker and Kgongwana, Editors. 2016, Phokeng, South Africa. p. 1.

47. University FS, Survey Sample Size Calculator, 2018, accessed 15 March 2018 <http://fluidsurveys.com/university/survey-sample-size-calculator/>.

48. Claassens A & B Boyle, ‘A promise betrayed: Policies and practice renew the rural dispossession of land, rights and prospects’, Policy Briefing, 124, 2015, SAIIA, Johannesburg.

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50. Mnwana S, ‘Mineral wealth – “in the name of morafe”? Community control in South Africa's ‘Platinum Valley’, Development Southern Africa, 2014, 31, 6, p. 834. doi:10.1080/0376835X.2014.951988

51. Claassens A & B Boyle, ‘A promise betrayed: Policies and practice renew the rural dispossession of land, rights and prospects’, Policy Briefing, 124, 2015, SAIIA, Johannesburg.

52. Holdings RB, Integrated review 2016 – Building Resilience Through Diversification. Johannesburg: RBH, 2016, p. 48.

53. Cook S & R Hardin, ‘Performing royalty in contemporary Africa’, Cultural Anthropology, 28, 2, 2013, p. 234.

54. Mnwana S, ‘Mineral wealth – “in the name of morafe”? Community control in South Africa's “Platinum Valley”’, Development Southern Africa, 31, 6, 2014, pp. 826–42. doi:10.1080/0376835X.2014.951988

55. Holdings RB, Integrated review 2016 – Building Resilience Through Diversification. Johannesburg: RBH, p. 49.

56. Ibid., p. 48.

57. Ibid., p. 49.

58. Dept. of Public Works, R.S.A., Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), accessed 10 April 2019 <http://www.epwp.gov.za/>.

59. Bekker M, Research Director RBA, Conversation about EPWP, Phokeng. February, 2018.

60. Royal Bafokeng Administration, Population and Land Use Audit 2016, Bekker and Kgongwana, Editors. 2016, Phokeng, South Africa. p. 2.

61. Bafokeng Land Buyers' Association. 2018, accessed 25 February 2018 <https://bafokeng-landbuyers.org/>.

62. Cook S, ‘Community management of mineral resources: the case of the Royal Bafokeng Nation’, Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 113, 1, 2013, pp. 61–66.

63. Wilkinson RG & K Pickett, The Spirit Level : Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. London: Allen Lane, 2009.

64. Royal-Bafokeng-Administration, Bafokeng Oral History, G. Flomenhoft, Editor. 2018.

65. Manson A, ‘Mining and “traditional communities” in South Africa’s “Platinum Belt”: Contestations over land, leadership and assets in North-West Province c .1996–2012’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 39, 2, 2013, p. 421.

66. Wales-Smith KBS, ‘Stealing the crust: How the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela were robbed of their inheritance’, 1 February, 2018, Daily Maverick: Johannesburg, Capetown, accessed 15 February 2019 <https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-02-01-stealing-the-crust-how-the-baktatla-ba-kgafela-were-robbed-of-their-inheritance/>.