Johannesburg — South African police have launched an investigation after 14 suspected illegal miners died when a mine dump site collapsed on them Monday night, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
Eight others were injured in the incident, and police say “an unknown number… may still be trapped underground” beneath the rubble.
The collapse occurred at a legally operating mining site in what appears to be the latest tragedy to strike South Africa’s pervasive illegal mining sector, where undocumented migrants often risk their lives in search of precious metals.
Police investigation underway
Regional police chief Lt-Gen Arthur Adams, who visited the scene Tuesday morning, confirmed that the dump site was being used by a local company to mine platinum and other metals.
Speaking to local broadcaster Newzroom Afrika, Adams described how the tragedy unfolded: “The walls of the dumping site… caved in on them [the illegal miners].”
Three of the injured miners have since been released from hospital and taken into police custody, Adams said. He confirmed that all the zama zamas — as illegal miners are known in South Africa — are undocumented foreign nationals and will face illegal mining and trespassing charges.
“Excavation operations have ceased,” Adams added, though the search for any miners still trapped continues.
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A deadly pursuit
The miners, most believed to be from neighbouring Lesotho, are part of a vast informal economy that has flourished across South Africa’s mining regions. Known locally as “zama zamas” — a Zulu term meaning “those who try their luck” — these individuals scavenge for gold and other precious metals in abandoned shafts and dump sites.
Injuries and deaths among illegal miners are not uncommon, particularly at abandoned mine shafts where safety measures have long since deteriorated.
Echoes of Stilfontein tragedy
The incident bears grim similarities to a disaster in January last year, when 78 bodies were recovered from a disused shaft in Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg.
Those miners had become trapped following a nationwide police operation to crack down on illicit mining at disused sites. The operation came as South Africa’s mining industry — once the backbone of the country’s economy — continues to shrink, with many operations no longer profitable for multinational companies.
Yet the promise of finding gold deposits continues to draw desperate people, particularly undocumented migrants from across southern Africa, to these dangerous sites.
System under strain
The latest deaths highlight the ongoing challenge facing South African authorities, who must balance enforcement against the humanitarian dimensions of illegal mining.
While the site where Monday’s collapse occurred was being legally operated, it remains unclear how the miners gained access to the area. Police are now investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, with charges pending against the surviving miners.
