A king in the former Transkei has promised that his deal with Chinese interests to develop pristine land along the Wild Coast over a lease period of 50 years, won’t be rammed down his subjects’ throats.
In an interview with the Dispatch, Western Mpondoland King Ndamase Ndamase was at pains to downplay a contract he signed as part of a joint venture with Chinese company South African Honglin (Pty) Ltd, saying it was above board and beneficial to his subjects – if they wanted it.
This week, Daily Maverick reported that without informing his subjects King Ndamase had signed a contract to lease a large stretch of the Wild Coast to the Chinese to engage in a range of activities including mining, building a port at Port St Johns capable of handling 10,000-ton ships, and establishing golf courses.
One of the more outlandish projects in the joint venture is a planned “Disney playground”.
The joint venture document, titled “Contract of Lease between South Africa Nyandeni Kingdom and South Africa Honglin Investment (Pty) Ltd”, will see land leased for 30 years and the lease renewed for a further 20 years.
Ndamase said: “Nothing will be imposed on communities. Potential investors will consult extensively and full consent of the affected communities will be sought. I am just negotiating for my people. Also, the government will be involved.”
Ndamase played down the binding nature of the contract: “The documents I signed are just provisional. Nothing is in force and binding. We still have to consult with communities extensively and get their full consent. The whole thing of this proposed massive development will depend on communities and people.”
He said he began the talks with Honglin in July.
Chinese representatives had also attended his coronation at Nyandeni Great Place near Libode in September where talks continued.
The king was asked why the “Contract of Land Lease”, which contains a lengthy list of development projects and had his signature “Ndamase Mangaliso Ndamase” on it for Nyandeni, and a Chinese signature for Honglin’s “chiarman” (sic), was dated November 27 2018.
He replied: ''No, no, that is just a provisional contract. I cannot enter into a binding contract without having consulted widely with all the people and their structures. The massive development will be effective only if the people want it. Everything will go in front of the people and their traditional leaders to confirm it and raise their concerns,” said Ndamase.
He had not yet informed his subjects as the deal was still in the early stages.
“I was not going to sign the final binding document without the blessings of the people. AmaMpondo will have to be consulted extensively before final and binding documents are signed. In fact, they will not only be consulted, but must agree on the proposed projects before it [the contract] goes ahead. To prove that the documents I signed are not final and binding, no land has yet been identified and agreed upon.”
In a statement released on Thursday evening, the king denied that he would own 25% of the envisaged joint-venture development company. He said he did not have the power to give land to any party without government “involvement”.
He said Honglin was introduced to him by chiefs and community members of Chaguba in Port St Johns.
He said he would derive no “financial gain” from seven development trusts proposed by the “people of Nyandeni”.
He said that the project was being discussed by the OR Tambo municipality, Nyandeni local municipality and Port St Johns local municipality.
But, one of Ndamase’s advisers, Nkosi Zoyisile Ntaphane, said he had “no knowledge” about the signing of the said contract.
“I saw documents of the proposed development and there were some items that we queried and sent back to them to be rectified. I never saw it being sent back. In fact, I had for a long time not attended any meetings about the proposed Chinese development,” Ntaphane said.
OR Tambo mayor Nomakhosazana Meth said although her municipality was not involved, she was happy about the kings and communities being involved.
Port St Johns mayor Nomvuzo Mlombile-Cingo said he had no idea of the planned development.
“We have our master plan development as the municipality and we all want more development and to attract more investors for Port St Johns. But I have not sat down with the king or his council over the proposed development,” said Mlombile-Cingo.
Nyandeni mayor Mesuli Ngqondwana said that the Chinese were introduced to him as “potential investors”. He said: “But there had never been formal engagement and proper briefing of the proposed development. We are all hungry for development.”..