Old mines have their uses

Mining has been the backbone of the South African economy for many years. For more than a century it has contributed considerably to the welfare of the people of SA.

Because of SA’s long history of mining, the country has many abandoned mines that are the source of various environmental and social problems. Bureaucrats call them death traps and want to board them up. Adventurers (mostly children) call them time capsules and want to go down and explore.

A mother from Jerusalema informal settlement on the East Rand has lost her five-year-old son, Richard Thole. He fell into a disused mine shaft and his body has not been found. Scores of “illegal miners” have died underground in abandoned mines that have not been sealed off properly.

Most common abandoned mine issues in countries with long histories of mining, such as SA, include environmental stresses, public health and safety concerns and socioeconomic issues. These mines are considered by many as negative legacies of post-mining operations.

Although the problems of deserted mining sites are well known in almost all countries, the efforts of the mining industry, governments and the host communities towards their rehabilitation have not been very encouraging.

Our communities are in danger and this needs to be changed. Already the National Environmental Management Act forces companies to rehabilitate our land after mining, and make it safe. However, it is clear we need to demand that the departments of environmental affairs and mineral resources do their job and force companies to abide by this act. The government’s position, however, is that all abandoned mines are potentially lethal, and its solution is to bar the entrances. Some are sealed with concrete. Shafts sometimes are backfilled with the mine’s own tailings, rendering it impassable forever.

I look forward to the day when South African policy might more closely resemble that of Europe. There, governments recognise the recreational potential of old mines, which they are less quick to seal and fill. I think our government should restore and protect mines.

In England there are government-subsidised organisations that unearth mines and rehabilitate them.

In addition, because the greatest number of accidents around mines occur to children, public schools in mining districts should teach children about the dangers these abandoned mines hold.

Bakhaliphicebo Nakedi

Soweto