Urgent oversight visit to investigate Alexkor following corruption allegations

The Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Petroleum Resources has resolved to conduct an urgent oversight visit on Alexkor.

This follows a briefing from the Equitable Access Campaign (EAC) on its petition for investigations into reports of general accountability failure, maladministration and corruption at State diamond miner Alexkor.

This move comes in the wake of the EAC's insistence on launching a public inquiry to address the apparent collapse of accountability mechanisms over the past five years, during which Alexkor has continually received audit disclaimers.

EAC's Gavin Craythorne, who this week addressed the portfolio committee after petitioning the Speaker of Parliament, told Business Report on Wednesday that several inquiries into anomalies at Alexkor were shut down without the public getting the answers.

These include parliamentary appearances, a forensic investigatipon by Gobodo Consultants, and former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's State Capture Commission hearings into Alexkor.

"There is more than enough evidence on all the corruption on Alexkor. The thing is that nobody has done anything about it. Our call to Parliament is not for further investigation into State Capture corruption at Alexkor, there has been sufficient work done in that regard," Craythorne said.

"Our call is because the public hearings into State capture at Alexkor were shut down to prevent the truth being shared with the public, and because Alexkor’s entire accountability ecosystem has collapsed, allowing for the suppression of the truth to continue and thereby facilitating ongoing State capture corruption in Alexander Bay. "

Craythorne also said the EAC was concerned about why no investigation was launched into the threats against the lives of two Members of Parliament, Cathy Labuschagne and Ellen Prins, for trying to do proper oversight on Alexkor.

In an interview with Business Report, committee chairperson Mikateko Mahlaule, indicated that the oversight visit would be crucial for evaluating the path forward, especially given the proclamation from President Cyril Ramaphosa for the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to look into Alexkor’s operations and the ongoing considerations surrounding the Zondo Report.

"We decided to prioritise the oversight visit to know whether we will treat this as an investiogation or an inquiry. We do understand that the EAC has been making its own investigations for 16 years but we will have to treat it as an urgent matter within the confines of what Parliament can do," he said.

The EAC is composed of small-scale marine diamond miners who were contracted to Alexkor to pursue equitable access to the marine diamond resource. 

The campaign petitioned the Speaker to request Parliament’s intervention in addressing the alleged wrongdoings at Alexkor.

The Speaker then referred the petition to the committee for further processing.

Craythorne said the lack of equitable access combined with State Capture corruption has resulted in the decimation of a once vibrant and unique seafaring heritage.

He said there was lack of equitable access due to highly concentrated ownership control, predatory deal splits, underpricing of diamonds, wide-spread hoarding of valuable concessions, poor shore-side support, poor geological support, lack of marine mining expertise, climate change impact on seaday frequency and that the surf-zone resource was overworked.

The EAC's presentation this week was bolstered by Bianca Goodson, a former Trillian Management Consulting CEO and whistleblower on Trillian and McKinsey, who provided character testimony for Craythorne.

"Mr Craythorne has invested time in making clear the complexity of the Alexkor matter to the Zondo Commission, the SIU, international investigative bodies and South Africa’s Parliament. In all instances, he has borne the expenses and revenue loss without complaint and motivated the loss by his hope that one day, this matter will be resolved," Goodson said.

"His relentless pursuit has had devastating impacts on his personal life, much worse than I have realized as a State Capture whistleblower. Worse, the risks remain for him, his colleagues and his family, whilst for me, they appear to have dissipated."

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