Herdsman fears for safety over ‘diamonds’

THE man who first discovered the shiny stones that resemble diamonds in KwaHlathi, outside Ladysmith has gone into hiding.

Dwayne Maskutule, 41, a herdsman, kept what he found a secret until last month, when he unwittingly told his friends what he discovered while watching the cattle grazing last year.

Two weeks ago, talk about what Maskutule found began to spread.

Now, everyone in the rural town, where nothing much happens want Maskutule to show them where the “diamonds” are so they, too, can become “rich”.

Maskutule has since been relieved of his herdsman duties by his employer, Induna Nompumelelo Kunene, 73, as they both believed he was in danger.

She said Maskutule confided in her last year when he brought the stones home.

“They harass him while he is doing his job, forcing him to go to the mining site to show them where he found the diamonds,” she said.

A Lesotho national, Maskutele recalled he was tending to the cattle when he found the white stone which he thought was a diamond.

“I was told that these were not diamonds but are just stones that can be used for landscaping,” said Maskutule.

He said due to the number of people currently mining the area for the stones, fewer were being found, hence people were coming after him.

“Some believe that I have kept diamonds in my employer’s house which I am going to sell for millions.

“I told them if that was the case, I would have left my job and returned home,” said Maskutule while showing the white stone he kept in a plastic packet.

Kunene said some of the locals were afraid of the impact the mining would have on the village

This week, various authorities descended on the village, trying to dissuade the locals from their mining activities.

Kunene said the chief and the police urged the community to stop all mining activities, but to no avail.

With unemployment and poverty rife in the area, locals believed it was a way to get rich quickly.

The landscape was usually scenic, until people armed with shovels and picks made their way there.

Vuyiselo Gaven, 31, claimed to have made R1 500 on Wednesday from selling a few stones and was happy with what she earned.

Lethukuthula Sibisi, 37, said he made R2 000 over the week selling pieces of the stones, according to sizes – between R200 and R400 to the people who had come by car.

A team of experts from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, as well as officials from the SA Diamonds and Precious Metals Regulator, the Council for Geoscience, and Mintek also inspected the site.

According to the department, a detailed analysis will be conducted on the samples made available to the team and conclusive results were expected within a period not exceeding 30 days.