As the department of mineral resources & energy reworks its policies and strengthens systems on the issuing of mining permits to emerging miners, an aspirant Mpumalanga mining businesswoman faces a gloomy future as coal mining giants have kicked her off the mining site.
When Again Kubeka, 42, scored a coal mining permit from the department in 2019 she thought her dreams of building a mining empire were coming to fruition, but a “mistake” by her investor who mined the wrong portion owned by Seriti Resources saw her face legal action.
Five years later, Kubekahad borrowed money to regain access to a coal-rich portion, but now finds herself in debt with little prospect of returning to the site.
A court order, obtained in 2022 and enforced in August of the same year halted mining operations on Portion 16 of farm Speekfontein near the Duvha power station, which belonged to mining company Seriti Resources.
“I was new in mining and did not know much. The investor we brought [to mine the coal] made a mistake of mining on a portion which is not mine,” Kubeka said this week.
Kubeka's company, Sasekisa Enterprise, is one of the emerging black small-scale miners, armed with a mining permit that allowed it to extract the coal on portions they have acquired or leased.
Sasekisa Enterprise is leasing the land, five hectares of portion 8, near the Duvha power station from Eskom. Sasekisa's portion is adjacent to the much bigger and more coal-endowed portion belonging to Seriti Resources.
The department's spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi told TimesLIVE Premium that the “department has appointed a service provider to assist with the improvement of the licensing system called Cadastral”.
“This system is not going to specifically issue licences to black emerging miners , but it will be for anyone who applies for either a mining permit, a mining right or a prospecting right. The system is now at the design stage,” Buthelezi said.
Sasekisa Enterprise's investor Bheki Mabuza landed in trouble with Seriti Resources in 2022 for extracting coal from its site, which is adjacent to Kubeka's.
The encroachment happened about a kilometre away from Sasekisa Enterprises' five hectares. However, it has now emerged that Kubeka's permit had been used to mine the area without her involvement before Mabuza's arrival in 2022.
Mabuza told TimesLIVE Premium that he came on board in 2022 and had only worked for two months at the site, as he had previously been erecting fencing.
He said he inherited staff that had worked on the site during the winter of 2022 before he was stopped in September.
“I am the biggest victim in that operation. I felt so bad that I became part of it,” Mabuza said.
Mabuza said his operations were stopped before he could derive any profit.
Seriti said it had decided to cut ties with Sasekisa Enterprise after taking legal action to protect its asset, which was being illegally mined.
It provided a map that showed the location of Sasekisa Enterprise's portion, which it stated was more than a kilometre from its land that was mined.
Seriti spokesperson Linda Khuluse could not respond to questions why Kubeka was entertained through communications and meetings with the company's representatives for more than a year if a decision to cut ties with her was taken at the time legal action was taken.
TimesLIVE Premium has seen communications between Seriti and Sasekisa Enterprises, including a mining proposal and rehabilitation plan for the site.
Seriti told TimeLIVE that Sasekisa Enterprise's proposal and plan were rejected.
Seriti's site was richer in coal with the fossil fuel reachable slightly beneath the surface.
Kubeka blames both Mabuza and Seriti Resources for her woes.
“I am only finding out from you that the plans Seriti asked me to put together and send have been rejected, but why did they ask me to send those plans if they had no intention of granting me access to mine there?” asked Kubeka.
Kubeka now finds herself in debt and with a community that awaits job opportunities from her.
“For more than a year, I have been negotiating with Seriti to allow me to return to site. I spent money I do not have, just to comply with their requests,” Kubeka said.
She said she now had not a penny to her name and was uncertain what the future holds for her.
“I humbled myself and apologised for the error and requested another opportunity from Seriti, but despite making several promises to me and the community, I don't understand what is happening,” she said.
The court order that kicked Sasesika Enterprises off the site, which TimesLIVE Premium has seen, also ordered that all minerals extracted from the site be returned to Seriti.
Seriti estimated that 32,000 tonnes of coal were extracted from the site, while Kubeka told the Sunday Times that about 10,000 tonnes were taken from the site as they had two full months of operations.
“On other months, Mabuza had problems including diesel shortages, which affected the mining operations,” Kubeka said.
At the current coal price rate of $140 (about R2,487)per tonne, 32,000 tonnes would amount to $4.5m (R80m).
Kubeka said she was only paid R30,000 on several occasions by the investor, who was stopped at the time he had promised to introduce new mining machinery that would guarantee her about R2m.
She said Mabuza took most of the money from the coal they mined from the site.
Investment analyst at Anchor Capital Saleho Tsatsi said “better legal advice” would have helped Kubeka make better decisions.
“Generally speaking, clarity around regulations and legal issues is so important in mining. Not just in this case but in general, once all market participants have clarity, it gets the economic activity going,” Tsatsi said.
Analyst Yonelisa Petse said there is a critical need for “clearer criteria to empower emerging or artisanal miners in South Africa. However, this must be an initiative and funding from the mining industry”.
“Beyond obtaining permits, emerging or artisanal miners need equitable access to tailored financial resources, training programmes to build essential skills, and technology transfer initiatives to succeed. Additionally, the mining industry could foster partnerships to create mentorship programmes that guide these miners through operational challenges,” Petse said.
Petse said the success of emerging or artisanal miners could stimulate job creation and create opportunities in marginalised communities while potentially limiting illegal and dangerous mining activities.
Vusi Sambo, a community representative, said more than 75 families were directly benefiting from the Sasekisa Enterprise operations through direct employment.
“We were told by a representative from Seriti that we would be back on site as the issue with Sasekisa was being resolved. It's more than two years now, nothing has happened,” Sambo said.
Sambo said they wanted the operations to be reinstated even if it's through another entity so that unemployed local community members, including those retrenched by Seriti, could get job opportunities.
“We are now facing a bleak Christmas without any income, while that site that gave us hope and salaries remains unused,” Sambo said.
Sambo said Sasekisa Enterprises was the community's only hope as Seriti had retrenched workers.
“If Seriti is unable to employ us, why don't they allow Sasekisa Enterprise to return on site and employ us like it did in the past? Maybe it's because we don't know anyone high up politically that nobody cares about us,” Sambo said.
Buthelezi said the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act was now undergoing a review to deal with issues facing emerging miners.
“It is expected that it [the review] could address the licensing regime for the Artisanal and Small Scale mining ” Buthelezi said.
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