A top mining operation that employs 5,000 people and pays more than R1bn a year in taxes is fighting a life-and-death battle to save itself and staff from a deadly wave of criminality and fraud that has claimed 11 lives without a single criminal conviction.
Executives at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) and its parent, multinational Rio Tinto, described this week the extraordinary measures RBM has had to put in place as it battles ruthless criminals who plunder its commodities with near-impunity.
At stake is a share of annual revenue of $1bn (about R18.2bn) generated by extraction of high-value minerals used in various industries — titanium slag, zircon, rutile and high-purity iron.
If the company was forced to close the fallout would devastate the northern KwaZulu-Natal regional economy, according to local experts, but RBM says the government has been of little help.
A police task force established to tackle the problems is hopelessly understaffed, with RBM having to pay for some of the investigators’ accommodation in the town. The company has hired two private investigators as well.
Rio Tinto manager of African business Werner Duvenhage told the Sunday Times how senior executives now travel under armed guard in armour-plated cars after the roadside murder of Nico Swart, who was general manager of operations, in May 2021 while he was driving to work.
This hit followed the murder of Ronnie Nzimande, general manager for human resources, who was shot in his driveway as he arrived home from work.
Another nine people have been killed, almost certainly because they stood in the way of those who are creaming off substantial amounts from RMB’s operations.
The victims are Meshack Mbuyazi, Mbuso Mthethwa, Siphelele Sibiya, Judea Mbuyazi, Khulani Khwela, Lindokuhle Mkhize, Sne Cele, Lwazi Zungu and Msizi Mthethwa.
“In this town, if you are killed by gunfire it is considered to be natural causes,” a source close to the police investigation told the Sunday Times in Richards Bay. “Anybody who stands in the way of one of the syndicates is a target.”
It is understood the task team has identified a man “in his 30s” with local business interests in connection with some of the murders.
We never want what happened to Ronnie and Nico – being murdered with nobody being arrested – to be repeated
— Werner Duvenhage, Rio Tinto
“There are already pretty solid links between this individual and four of the 11 murders. Not enough to arrest yet, but the picture is slowly starting to emerge,” the source said.
Duvenhage said the company had no intention of giving up on South Africa, but the battle was taking a toll on staff.
“We never want what happened to Ronnie and Nico — being murdered with nobody being arrested — to be repeated,” he said.
“The loss of life is our biggest concern.”
He said theft cost the company up to $40m a year. Management had had to take extreme measures to protect staff and secure its mineral exports, which were targeted by syndicates centred on the trucking sector. Trucks play a key part in hauling the minerals to ports for shipment.
Zircon, which can be processed to form zirconia, sells for $1,500 a tonne. This means a 32t truck would carry a cargo worth $48,000.
Rutile, used as a colouring agent in porcelain and glass, and in the manufacture of some steels and copper alloys, sells for $1,700/t.
Titanium slag is largely used as a raw material for producing white pigment, mostly for the paint and plastics industries. It sells for $800/t. High-purity iron fetches $600/t.
Duvenhage said the syndicates were depriving the government of revenue because RMB was one of the biggest taxpayers in KwaZulu-Natal. It paid almost R1.5bn in tax in 2021.
Following Swart’s death, it declared force majeure on customer contracts and temporarily halted operations due to a deterioration in the security situation around the mine. Force majeure was lifted in March last year, but the government’s tax take dropped to R300m.
The sources close to the investigation said a key suspect had been arrested in March last year in connection with Mbuyazi’s murder, but he had been inexplicably released on bail and then assassinated.
“They arrested a man named Omega Ngubani,” one source said. “Witnesses made statements placing him in the murder vehicle, and also implicating him in the shooting and the planning of Judea Mbuyazi’s murder.”
In July charges were provisionally withdrawn to “tie up some loose ends. Two weeks later he was assassinated.”
The sources said the task team was initially set up in 2016 after Nzimande’s death, only to be disbanded a few months later. It was revived in 2021 after Swart’s death but was underfunded and understaffed.
“There are only four detectives working the cases, even though the task team consists of more or less 35 people. The rest are people like door-kickers from the tactical response team, forensic investigators and fingerprint guys.
“How can four detectives investigate 11 murders as well as theft on this grand scale at the same time? It just isn’t possible. The team needs more boots on the ground urgently.”
Duvenhage confirmed the existence of the task team. “Our understanding is that these syndicates are quite sophisticated crime organisations and groups.”
The sources said the syndicates used different methods to divert RBM cargoes.
In some cases fake clearance certificates allowed trucks controlled by the criminals to enter the RBM facility and load minerals, which were delivered to a warehouse in Gauteng. The syndicates then export the minerals themselves via Durban. Bribes for fake clearance certificates are believed to be between R10,000 and R30,000.
In other cases, trucks are intercepted while travelling between RBM and the Richards Bay harbour, and the product is loaded onto another truck. Thieves also bribe guards to raid legitimate stockpiles, and haulage trucks are sometimes diverted to the wrong ship by using fake documentation.
Twelve truck drivers have been arrested for theft. Their trucks were still parked at Richards Bay police station when the Sunday Times visited the area last week.
Mbuyazi’s brother, Nkosingiphile Richard Mbuyazi, 48, said as the induna (local chief) his brother had been the sole breadwinner in their large family, supporting about 44 people.
Bribes for fake clearance certificates are believed to be between R10,000 and R30,000
“Meshack had a vegetation clearing company and was a partner in an electrical company that did work for RBM,” his brother said.
“My 73-year-old mother is very sour, even if you talk about his death today she cries. My father, who is 75 now, has been mentally crippled by this.
“He [Meshack] was in his own vehicle with two of his bodyguards when they opened fire on him.”
Mike Patterson, vice-president of the Zululand Chamber of Business, said RBM was “a cornerstone of the entire area’s economy”.
“Very few businesses and people in the greater Richards Bay area are not touched in some way by RBM,” he said. “They spend billions in uplifting, educating and bettering people. One example is the 60 industrial sewing machines used by community members to produce personal protective equipment [during Covid]. This was funded in its entirety by RBM.”
Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said the task team was based in Richards Bay and comprised various specialised units, including crime intelligence, operational members and detectives.
“The number of members deployed to the project are based on the caseload at hand. The team is working on 44 cases ranging from murder and attempted murder to possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition and theft of minerals. So far 40 suspects have been arrested with 13 cases currently before court,” she said.
“The team is making significant inroads and since November there has been zero theft of minerals reported.”
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