Gordon Brown is Innocent!

[Michael Alexander]

Well, time to get topical, about a year back Gordon Brown sent me a few papers dealing with his very controversial  history whilst  working for the mine.

Some of you might not agree with  this article, but the whole saga is part of the history of  our town/mine! In a sense we are lucky to have Gordon online with us.

Please feel free to ask Gordon  anything or even to air your views. (Gordon is has been a member of this forum for quite some time now!)

[georg ruf jr.]

To me people like Gordon are heros.
Sorry guys, but that#s my oppinion.

[SandyB]

Very interesting reading ,,, gonna print  it out and  read  more deeply ... like paper and time  to absorb ... very  plausible ,  absolutely possible ...  people that challenged systems , authority and big business interests  years ago ,, well they got their  goose well  cooked ... according  to the admission of perjury in the document , he  should be vindicated ...


Hey this page wont post ...3rd try  .....  is this the MIB doing their number ???

[Gordon Brown]

Dear Mike ,The Granada documentary entitled 'The Case of the Disappearing Diamonds' (about Oranjemund and CDM/De Beers) makes for interesting viewing and the chapter entitled 'How to Steal a Country' in Laurie Flynn's book is interesting reading for Oranjemunders; in fact all Namibians. If you like, I can send copies of both for posting on the site.
Best wishes and kindest regards as always
Gordon   

[Michael Alexander]

Gordon, please feel free to sent them this way!

[Delia]

Hi gordon.......wow, what does one say after reading that.......even tho it's easy to say with hindsight it was all worth it, the living hell that you and your family must've gone thru while it was all happening, i cannot even begin to imagine.

mere words cannot express how i feel about all this, they seem so empty - I'm shocked & horrified at what went on and those that were involved - certain names that came up in the article, people that i always looked up to and respected while working with them in my time in O'mund - it blows my mind that little did i know their dark side and what they were actually up to.  i get a picture in my mind of me passing them in the corridors of the main office block when i worked there - i was almost in awe of them considering their positions - to think that behind that air of superiority lay dark corrupt intentions.............

again, mere words seem so empty but well done to you.  you fought for truth and justice and even tho it took many many years of struggle, hardship and pain to you and your loved ones, the truth prevailed.  you are living proof of the notion "never give up" - the truth can never be hidden forever, it will always come out. somewhere, sometime - someone will slip up or their guilty conscience will get too heavy a burden to carry..........the truth shall set you free!!!

and George jnr..........i echo your sentiments!

[Clive Symes]

Hi Gordon, after having worked with you, I always knew there was more to the story given out on Mine.

It takes guts & morals to take on the establishment.

Georg, no need to apologise, I support your opinion & Deilia your right the truth emerges even years later.

[Michael Alexander]

I reread this again this morning, the following stand out for me:

""The next year Brown was the star of a powerful Granada documentary..... shown on ITV, titled "The case of the disappearing diamonds."  It found that De Beers had secretly stripped Namibia of 3 billion rands worth of diamonds through overmining.  Brown went on to appear in the BBC documentary 'The Diamond Empire', and became a central figure in the authoritative book on violations by Southern African mining companies called 'Studded with diamonds and paved with gold'.

and

""As an example, in 1968 the target set (carat call) was 125,000 carats a month whereas productive capacity at CDM was only sufficient to produce 103,000 carats per month...

"The shortfall of 18 % was met by overmining the rich upper terraces in the south of the mine.  Because this area contained most of the largest stones, overmining depleted these high stone size reserves which should have been available for future mining...."

Is'nt this one of the areas being mined at the moment?

"I believe such an inquiry would obtain more witnesses and more evidence of the company's irresponsible behaviour; it would also show that the consequences for Namibia of De Beer's strategy were devastating – the life of mine was shortened and by my calculation no less than an extra billion pounds of revenue was taken away before independence.'

"A poor country can do a great deal with a billion pounds

[Gordon Brown]

Mike the rich upper terraces referred to were those in Gemsbok area nearest the east cliff. They were Called the K,L,M and N blocks. The value of the diamonds found in this area, especially those in the N blocks nearest the cliff, was well above average. One could see  diamonds lying on the ground in the bedrock cleaning windrows; and big ones at that. These blocks were preferentially mined out in the 60s and 70s. as the Life of Mine, Five year production Forecasts, Annual mine plans and actual production figures reflect. Many of these reports can be viewed in the Report of the Thirion Judicial Commission of Inquiry.   
Kind regards
Gordon

[Paul (Pepe) Freemantle]

Hi Gordon, It was very pleasing for me to read your story and that you are Innocent. Thanks for sharing all at the Forum. I trust that you will benefit Financially of all you and family have lost over the years. I am very proud of you and have always been. You are the Best!!!

[Malcolm Bertoni]

hi all

I worked at 66m treatment plant at Mittag in 1968/69 and we treated some ore from what I can remember were the M or N blocks in area G.  Incredibly big diamonds and very,very rich.  The concentrate screen at the HMS were covered in diamonds and we filled one of those big milk cans each shift.

So diamond mining didnt seem to do much for the Namibian economy and pillaging the earth is nothing new.  At Alexander Bay in the 30s and 40s there was already rumblings about the lack of benefits that the local area was getting from diamond mining. A prominent Springbok lawyer Daantjie Scholtz wrote to all the Cape newspapers about the situation.  Not much notice was taken at the time, except that riot police were sent to Alex Bay to keep things under control. 

My research had found that the same Scholtz (together with a partner) bought Grootderm in 1928 from Hendrik Louw for £20,000 - which would have been a huge sum in those days.  He sold Grootderm to CDM in 1947, when it became Beauvallon.  While he owned Grootderm, he provided Alexander Bay with fresh produce every day. He later became a town councillor,  mayor of Springbok and a member of parliament for Namaqualand and kept trying to improve the lot of the locals in the area.

There is much more but I wont go into all of it here.

Cheers

Malcolm