" LOOTED PROMISES: The Crumbs Economy of Mining & the Myth of the Just Transition" 14 May 2025

[...] From the manganese pits of Mononono to the platinum seams of Sandfontein, from the copper corridors of Phalaborwa to the chrome stained valleys of ikemeleng, MACUA and WAMUA’s 2024 community led social audits reveal a structural obscenity: a mining sector that celebrates “transformation” while looting the crumbs it claims to distribute. This is what we now call “Crumbs Capture”—a morally bankrupt system in which even the limited funds earmarked for development are misappropriated through inflated tenders, ghost projects, falsified delivery reports, and elite capture, all while communities languish in deepening poverty. [...] Collectively, the audited companies generated an estimated R218.8 billion in turnover over the five-year SLP period, yielding estimated profits of R72.23 billion. Yet from these vast earnings, only R92.25 million—or 0.13% of total estimated profit—was delivered in tangible, verifiable community benefit. [...]

Using participatory research, physical site verifications, and testimonies from directly affected communities, the report audits SLP implementation across 11 sites including Phola, Mononono, ikemeleng, Meloding, Rabokala, Magojaneng, and others. it reveals:

• " Total SLP Value Assessed: R376.25 million
• " SLP Funds Unaccounted For: R284 million—approximately 75% of committed funds either missing, undocumented, or falsely reported as delivered
• " Confirmed SLP Delivery: Only R92.25 million in verifiable infrastructure or services reached communities
• " Average Completion Score: 23.25%
• " Average Community Value Score: 21.5% .

In sites like Mononono (10% completion, 5% value), MNS (0% delivery), and Rabokala (7.1% completion, 9.6% value), audit teams found no functional infrastructure where projects were declared complete. Some clinics were padlocked, roads unfinished, and schools repainted instead of rebuilt. Contractors were untraceable. in many communities, not a single woman had been consulted in SLP planning