Time running out: Relatives are desperately trying to rescue the scores of illegal artisanal miners who became trapped when a mine shaft in Krugersdorp was flooded. Photo: Fani Mahuntsi/Getty Images
The fate of about 40 illegal artisanal miners, who are reportedly trapped in a flooded mine shaft in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, remains unclear.
They have been unable to surface from the abandoned shaft in Luipaardsvlei for nearly two weeks and, in recent days, their desperate families have gathered at the decommissioned shaft in Krugersdorp, a hotspot for illegal mining.
Together with other illegal artisanal miners, the relatives have mounted their own rescue efforts, using a generator to try to pump water out of the flooded shaft entrance. These efforts have failed.
“People didn’t know their families were down there until much later,” said one resident, who requested anonymity.
“You’ve got desperate families who were unaware that their loved ones went down there on that Friday [25 November].
“They’ve been told they were due to come out on Sunday.
“Somebody went down to have a look to see why they hadn’t resurfaced, and their exit was blocked by water, so now their families are desperate for help.”
The resident said there had not been a “firm commitment” from the police or the department of mineral and petroleum resources to assist in the crisis.
“Have we become a country with so few morals that we prefer what is happening at Stilfontein, where we’re being told to ‘smoke them out’ and ‘starve them out’?” the resident wondered, referring to a similar ongoing drama involving illegal miners stuck underground in North West.
“Now we’ve got these men trapped there for close to two weeks and what do we do about this?
“On the slim chance that they are alive, I think every minute counts. Time is ticking. We need to get these men out and can’t pretend that they aren’t there.”
The tragedy of trapped illegal artisanal miners is part of a far bigger problem, the resident said.
“This horrendous and inhumane industry has been allowed to continue for so many years because there has not been consistent law enforcement on this issue.
“It’s all coming to light now with the ‘smoke them out’ or ‘starve them’ situation with the illegal miners in Stilfontein but it’s been an ongoing problem for years.”
A worried relative of one of the illegal miners, who also did not want to be named, told the Mail & Guardian that he was losing hope. His nephew had been working underground since he came to Johannesburg three to four years ago.
“They are stuck underground and we have been trying to do everything to get them out.
“I went to the police trying to open a case but the response they gave us wasn’t good,” he said.
Nobody is certain how far down the illegal miners are and that could only be established with the help of the authorities.
“The shaft entrance is very small and the water has locked them inside. They are stuck. People tell us they can live underground for 21 days but I am worried,” the relative said.
“We understand that they went down on that Friday, and a guy that they went with, went outside to buy food. When he was coming back, that’s when he discovered the water had closed the entrance — it just came all of a sudden.
“These guys don’t have any other exit. Maybe we will find their bodies not yet damaged; that’s what I am thinking. The other guys who are going underground said people can survive for so many days but I’m no longer hoping.”
The families have paid a traditional healer to perform rituals at the shaft, but the uncle said he wasn’t certain those efforts would be successful.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masonda said he was unaware of the incident.
“On Thursday, we had an operation, Operation Shanela, in Krugerdorp and we’ve never received information about zama zamas that are trapped inside a mine,” he said.
“If there’s somebody who has got the full information — who saw those people there — they must come to the police,” he said.
Another relative said two of his sons were trapped underground and had ventured into the mine workings with 150 others.
“We tried to get a generator to put it underground to pump out the water.
“We sent four guys to work with the generator and two of them ended up in hospital — they almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning,” he said.
The father said he was worried that his sons were running out of oxygen.
“With this kind of water situation, we don’t know if they are getting enough oxygen — they don’t have food or anything and it is really terrible for them.
“I’m fighting for my sons’ lives and to get them out of that mine.”
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
The department had not responded by the time of publication.
Mariette Liefferink, the chief executive of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, said that the liquidation of mining companies without proper closure and remediation contributed to illegal mining and exposure of illegal miners to dangerous conditions.
The liquidation of Mintails in 2018 had resulted in the proliferation of illegal mining in the Krugersdorp area, she said.
The department had allowed Mintails to operate between 2012 and 2018, despite the fact that it had never approved the environmental management plans of the mine and had never issued the company with a mining right under the law.
On 19 January 2021, she said, the entire issued share capital held by West Wits Monarch was transferred by the department to Amatshe Mining. Amatshe Mining acquired mining rights from West Wits Monarch.
The mining right included various portions of the farms Uitvalfontein 244 IQ, Waterval 174 IQ, Luipaardsvlei 246 IQ and Witpoortjie 245 IQ in the magisterial districts of Krugersdorp and Randfontein.
“It is believed that 40 miners are trapped underground on the farm Luipaardsvlei 246 IQ.
“Amatshe Mining is the mining-right holder of the property. As far as we know, Amatshe Mining is not the landowner,” Liefferink said.
After being notified of the plight of the trapped miners, and a request for assistance, the Federation for a Sustainable Environment contacted one of the directors of Amatshe Mining and requested his help with the rescue of the trapped miners.
“The director informed the Federation for a Sustainable Environment that he has knowledge of the situation and, although he is sensitive to the plight of the trapped miners, Amatshe Mining is not in the position to assist,” Liefferink said.
The M&G could not reach the director.
“We were also informed the search-and-rescue operations are not authorised to enter the underground workings and that rescuers will have to crawl for one to two hours to the point of the flooded underground workings.
“The situation is considered by rescuers to be too dangerous to assist.”
Liefferink said the Federation for a Sustainable Environment expressed its “wholehearted solidarity” with the families of the trapped miners and “regrets the reluctance of the department and the police to actively intervene and assist in this calamitous situation.”
“The right to life, even for illegal miners, is a basic human right and must be respected,” she said, adding that this is not an isolated case.
“Of relevance, too, is that the Hawks [Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation] and SAPS investigated the drowning of 21 illegal miners in the area where Amatshe Mining was conducting open-cast mining under the footprint of the old gold treatment plant of Mintails.”
In yet another case of illegal miners being trapped underground, this week police said that three bodies had been retrieved from an abandoned mine in Sabie in Mpumalanga, while eight people had been rescued from a hole.
More than a hundred illegal miners were still underground, police said.
According to police, in the Stilfontein saga, seven bodies had been retrieved so far while more than 1 300 illegal miners have resurfaced. Hundreds are still underground.