Mantashe warns Stilfontein miners’ NGO against ‘promoting criminality’
Government embarks on rescue operation after Macua advocated for the right to life and for assistance in providing relief
13 January 2025 - 20:32
byInnocentia Nkadimeng
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
ANC national chair and minister of mineral resources Gwede Mantashe says illegal mining has a significant economic impact. Picture: SUPPLIED
Minister of mineral & petroleum resources Gwede Mantashe has issued a warning to Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua), urging it not to overlook the criminal aspects of illegal mining while prioritising the rescue of miners underground.
This comes as the government embarks on a rescue operation at the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine in Stilfontein, where 109 bodies were discovered in shafts 10 and 11.
Macua has consistently advocated for the right to life of the trapped miners and for government assistance in providing relief.
Mantashe said the NGO should be careful not to promote criminality.
“One of the things that surprises me in SA is when South Africans place human rights at the centre of criminal activities. That worries me, because it suggests that we are preaching tolerance for criminality,” Mantashe said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
“Macua should be careful not to promote criminality and to say we must protect criminality against justice and fairness.”
He highlighted the significant economic impact of illegal mining, estimating that it resulted in a loss of R60bn in 2024.
“That is a significant leakage from the value of the economy, and therefore we cannot be merciful in dealing with that criminal activity. We must address it as a crime and acknowledge that the people underground entered voluntarily into a risky situation.”
More than 1,500 illegal miners have resurfaced, with some still trapped underground.
It emerged in court papers that the government had been at odds with Buffelsfontein Gold Mine over who should bear the R12m rescue cost. Mantashe said the government would assist in funding the operation.
The Buffelsfontein Gold Mine “takes responsibility, but we had to raise funds from various sources, including my department. We had to talk to a lot of people to fund the operation.”
Pieter Alberts, chief director for legal services at the mineral & petroleum resources department, in an affidavit to court, said Minerals Council SA had “graciously agreed to contribute to the substantial costs” of the rescue.
Alberts said an access road for the crane that would lift the miners to safety still needed to be completed, which may take two more days.
The crane would work in 10-hour shifts, lifting people in small groups, government counsel Cassie Badenhorst told the court last week.
A desperate handwritten letter from the miners was received last Thursday asking for face masks because of the smell, and Jeyes Fluid “to wash away the maggots that’s on the bodies”, said Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) counsel Anna-Marie de Vos in court last Friday.
The LHR approached the court urgently late on Thursday night and the application was heard on Friday morning. The illegal miners, fearing arrest, are trapped underground, unable to get out without being assisted.
In court papers to the Constitutional Court in December, Macua said the police were directly responsible for the humanitarian crisis that had unfolded at shafts 10 and 11.
Operation Vala Umgodi was intended to combat illegal and illicit mining but it was based on a “fatally flawed” assumption: that shafts 10 and 11 were linked to the Margaret shaft, which provided a viable exit for the miners, said Macua. Instead, there was no link between the Margaret shaft and the two shafts where the miners are trapped.
On January 5, Mantashe called an urgent “stakeholder meeting”, which was attended by senior politicians and officials including police minister Senzo Mchunu and representatives of the mining company.
It was “resolved at the meeting” that the company was responsible for the rescue operation and “must commence with the same urgently”. But, said Alberts, the company said it lacked the funds to pay. Another meeting the next day did not take the matter any further.
On January 7, the department issued a statutory directive instructing the company to implement a rescue, saying the company had a legal duty to extract the illegal miners.
Its lack of action constituted “a serious violation of the company’s statutory obligations and puts the lives of the estimated 550 illegal miners at risk”.
The company responded that “at all material times” it had been made to understand the government would pay for the extraction of the miners.
The mine was not liable and the claim that it was putting lives at risk was “legally and factually untenable”, said a letter from its attorneys, Werksmans.
The immediate impasse seems to have been resolved by the Minerals Council stepping in, but De Vos said LHR would ask the court to monitor the government’s implementation of the rescue because “promises made in the past have not been complied with”.
“That’s why we’ve got 109, now 108, dead bodies down in the mine that need to come up,” she said. One body had been retrieved.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Mantashe warns Stilfontein miners’ NGO against ‘promoting criminality’
Government embarks on rescue operation after Macua advocated for the right to life and for assistance in providing relief
Minister of mineral & petroleum resources Gwede Mantashe has issued a warning to Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua), urging it not to overlook the criminal aspects of illegal mining while prioritising the rescue of miners underground.
This comes as the government embarks on a rescue operation at the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine in Stilfontein, where 109 bodies were discovered in shafts 10 and 11.
Macua has consistently advocated for the right to life of the trapped miners and for government assistance in providing relief.
Mantashe said the NGO should be careful not to promote criminality.
“One of the things that surprises me in SA is when South Africans place human rights at the centre of criminal activities. That worries me, because it suggests that we are preaching tolerance for criminality,” Mantashe said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
“Macua should be careful not to promote criminality and to say we must protect criminality against justice and fairness.”
Footage shows dozens of dead miners trapped after police raid
He highlighted the significant economic impact of illegal mining, estimating that it resulted in a loss of R60bn in 2024.
“That is a significant leakage from the value of the economy, and therefore we cannot be merciful in dealing with that criminal activity. We must address it as a crime and acknowledge that the people underground entered voluntarily into a risky situation.”
More than 1,500 illegal miners have resurfaced, with some still trapped underground.
It emerged in court papers that the government had been at odds with Buffelsfontein Gold Mine over who should bear the R12m rescue cost. Mantashe said the government would assist in funding the operation.
The Buffelsfontein Gold Mine “takes responsibility, but we had to raise funds from various sources, including my department. We had to talk to a lot of people to fund the operation.”
Pieter Alberts, chief director for legal services at the mineral & petroleum resources department, in an affidavit to court, said Minerals Council SA had “graciously agreed to contribute to the substantial costs” of the rescue.
Alberts said an access road for the crane that would lift the miners to safety still needed to be completed, which may take two more days.
The crane would work in 10-hour shifts, lifting people in small groups, government counsel Cassie Badenhorst told the court last week.
A desperate handwritten letter from the miners was received last Thursday asking for face masks because of the smell, and Jeyes Fluid “to wash away the maggots that’s on the bodies”, said Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) counsel Anna-Marie de Vos in court last Friday.
The LHR approached the court urgently late on Thursday night and the application was heard on Friday morning. The illegal miners, fearing arrest, are trapped underground, unable to get out without being assisted.
In court papers to the Constitutional Court in December, Macua said the police were directly responsible for the humanitarian crisis that had unfolded at shafts 10 and 11.
Operation Vala Umgodi was intended to combat illegal and illicit mining but it was based on a “fatally flawed” assumption: that shafts 10 and 11 were linked to the Margaret shaft, which provided a viable exit for the miners, said Macua. Instead, there was no link between the Margaret shaft and the two shafts where the miners are trapped.
On January 5, Mantashe called an urgent “stakeholder meeting”, which was attended by senior politicians and officials including police minister Senzo Mchunu and representatives of the mining company.
It was “resolved at the meeting” that the company was responsible for the rescue operation and “must commence with the same urgently”. But, said Alberts, the company said it lacked the funds to pay. Another meeting the next day did not take the matter any further.
On January 7, the department issued a statutory directive instructing the company to implement a rescue, saying the company had a legal duty to extract the illegal miners.
Its lack of action constituted “a serious violation of the company’s statutory obligations and puts the lives of the estimated 550 illegal miners at risk”.
The company responded that “at all material times” it had been made to understand the government would pay for the extraction of the miners.
The mine was not liable and the claim that it was putting lives at risk was “legally and factually untenable”, said a letter from its attorneys, Werksmans.
The immediate impasse seems to have been resolved by the Minerals Council stepping in, but De Vos said LHR would ask the court to monitor the government’s implementation of the rescue because “promises made in the past have not been complied with”.
“That’s why we’ve got 109, now 108, dead bodies down in the mine that need to come up,” she said. One body had been retrieved.
With Franny Rabkin
TimesLIVE
NGO proposes using drones to assess conditions at Buffelsfontein mine
Stilfontein mine owner says not legally bound to rescue trapped miners
Supplies yet to reach illegal Stilfontein miners after interdict
Court grants emergency aid to illegal miners in Stilfontein
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
Combat illegal mining from the top, says Neal Froneman
WATCH: How an illicit gold economy thrives in SA
Stilfontein’s zama-zamas: hired as casual labourers — then forced underground
HILARY JOFFE: Illegal mining exposes a socioeconomic, political and security ...
State need not provide medical relief to illegal Stilfontein miners, court rules
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.