21 dead zama zamas could have drowned after rains
Rescue team continues searching for more bodies underground
The 21 suspected illegal miners who were found dead at the Amatshe mine in Krugersdorp, on the West Rand, may have been trapped underground during heavy rains.
Mogale City mayor Tyrone Gray said while investigations were still underway to determine how exactly the men died, indications were that Tuesday’s heavy rains had prevented them from exiting the narrow tunnels.
By yesterday afternoon 21 bodies had been recovered, 19 of them found on Wednesday afternoon, while two were discovered yesterday morning.
Search and rescue teams called off operations yesterday afternoon due to high water levels in the shafts caused by heavy rain, preventing them from moving through the narrow tunnels.
“It seems that due to the rains, a lot of the tunnels had been covered in water and this has dire consequences on people’s lives in terms of being able to exit given that illegal mining doesn’t have the same infrastructure for safe mining activity,” he said.
“This is simply the idea that has been reported on, that the volume of individuals was more than the 21.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili said there is no way of knowing how many people were still trapped underground as no eyewitnesses had come forward.
“Rescue teams will continue searching until they are satisfied [that there are no more bodies],” she said.
Gray said the scale of illegal mining in the area was significant, with connectivity between various shafts stretching as far as 50km.
With Amatshe being an open-cast gold mine where minerals are extracted from an open pit, Gray said the mine was easily accessible to zama zamas who develop their own tunnels within the active mine.
An illegal miner who asked not to be named said the bodies were moved from the shaft to prevent police from investigating the scene where they worked.
The illegal miner said the trench’s stability was compromised by the heavy rainfall in the area.
“The trench was not stable enough because of the rain. Some of us decided to take a break from mining when it started raining because we do not have enough support structure for the excavations we make. We use dynamite and that moves the earth, which makes it riskier when it rains,” he said.
Another illegal miner said they warned the deceased to desist from mining until the rain stopped.
According to West Village community leader Steven Ndlovu, who is also part of search operations in the area, the group of zama zamas operate in large groups of armed men who work mainly during the night.
“Their operations start in the late evenings around 9pm when the legal miners are gone. They mine throughout the night and leave in the early hours of the morning just before the legal miners arrive,” he said.
“Last week Friday, I was here with a security officer and we saw a group of guys coming out from the very same shaft with big guns and we took off because they don’t like seeing unfamiliar cars. They have people in the bushes who scout for any unfamiliar or unwelcome faces.”
Ndlovu said the zama zamas reign of terror had subsided following the arrest of 14 illegal miners in connection with the rape of eight women at a mine dump 6km away from Amatshe.
But things soon went back to the usual lawlessness after charges against the group were dropped two weeks ago.
“We are living in fear. We are constantly on our toes because of these zama zamas; if they find you alone and walking’on theres a the group streets of them then they will rob you,” he said.
“If you don’t give them what they want, they shoot you.”
Members of West Village community said they have no faith that police will ever bring an end to illegal mining.
A 40-year-old mother of one, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, said community members had a curfew of 6pm to avoid being robbed or attacked by the zama zamas.
“Every day since Monday we have been hearing gunshots at night. Sometimes we sleep through it, but at times I take my child and we hide under the bed,” she said.
“For us to survive, we have to keep our mouths shut because we don’t know who might be feeding them with information. Their girlfriends live amongst us so we have to be very careful.
“I believe that the 21 dead people they found in that shaft doesn’t begin to cover the magnitude of the problem. There are a lot of them and I don’t think police will ever get it right, ” said the woman. –
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We decided to take a break when rain started