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Africa: Subsaharan
Karoo farm family strikes pay dirt
2005-08-15
THE Ngondo family don’t have electricity on their farm — but they have enough uranium underground to power the nearby town of Beaufort West for a thousand years. In April they landed a breathtaking R20-million windfall when they sold the mineral rights on the farm Katdoringkuil to a London-based mining company, Uranco Incorporated. When they had bought the 6000ha of flat, dusty veld four years ago, with a state subsidy, nothing had hinted at the rich uranium deposits waiting under the Karoo scrub. “We had a dream to own a farm, but our dream turned into another dream because nobody expected there to be something like uranium in that property,” said Thandi Ngondo, 59, a retired railway worker.

He and his seven brothers and sisters set up a family trust to buy the land in 2001. Thandi’s brother Zwelinzima, 69, is the only sibling who lives on the farm, in a derelict house without electricity. He tends a vegetable patch and keeps a few goats, sheep, pigs and chickens.
Posted by:Ebbolutch Thavick3284

#3  He's with Waldo.
Posted by: Fred   2005-08-15 21:10  

#2  Where's Olega?
Posted by: Shipman   2005-08-15 17:52  

#1  Kinda like the Beverly Hillbillys?

Zwelinzima gets screwed out of his house and goats in the end, I bet.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2005-08-15 10:40  

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