On June 5, a Sunday evening, Sibanye-Stillwater staff found themselves cowering from gunfire in a room as 100 armed men stormed their Cooke 4 gold mine, southwest of Johannesburg.
Outside, an electrician was lying dead in a cable duct after being shot. Several fires caused by the attack were blazing at the substation. Firefighters ducked for cover as they watched the mine’s security staff try to fend off the attackers in a gun battle, some of which was caught on video.
This attack, Sibanye’s management believes, was an attempt to take over a deep and sophisticated mining operation from one of SA's largest gold producers.
Sibanye-Stillwater, which has five gold mining operations in SA, has been forced to stop work at all four shafts at Cooke mine since 2017 after illegal miners infiltrated it’s underground operations compromising the mine’s safety.
Two of its other operations — at Kloof and Driefontein mines — have also seen the so-called zama zamas infiltrate their deep-level underground operations.
Sibanye-Stillwater spokesperson James Wellsted told TimesLIVE that in recent violent encounters between zama zamas and Sibanye security staff:
- Two security officers responding to six illegal miners detected at a Driefontein shaft came under gunfire from the suspects. During the exchange, one security member was fatally wounded. Five suspects, including the shooter, were arrested at the scene.
- A security team successfully defused a hostage situation at a Cooke shaft. A group of suspects armed with weapons gained access to the shaft bank and held the banksman hostage. The security teams were confronted with gunfire and retaliated, which resulted in the suspects fleeing the scene.
- Security officers came under gunfire from suspects when they reacted to a report of suspicious activity at a Cooke shaft. The team retaliated until they were outnumbered and had run out of ammunition. The suspects used this opportunity to set alight two response vehicles, one of which is an armoured vehicle and the other a single cab. The damage amounted to more than R2m.
- Two security officers who were travelling in a Cooke shaft were found to have been ambushed, shot, and killed at close range. The driver’s company firearm was stolen.
- Illegal miners launched an explosive device towards security officers during an underground operation conducted at a Driefontein shaft, which assisted in their escape.
According to Wellsted, since 2016 Sibanye-Stillwater security teams have apprehended 4,028 illegal miners, with an average of 575 arrests a year.
He said children as young as 13 have been rescued from the depths of the mines where human trafficking, prostitution and slavery are rife.
“We’ve found young kids aged 13 to 14 underground. The zama zamas have put fake adverts online for jobs at Sibanye mines, and when the desperate people arrive they capture them and take them as indentured labour underground,” he said.
Harmony Gold, SA’s other major gold producer, with nine underground operations, said its security teams have apprehended zama zamas in their thousands.
Between 2014 and 2022 there has been an increase in violent armed attacks on security personnel in some of the Harmony operations. The shooting incidents have been observed to be predominantly infights within the illegal groups.
— Harmony spokesperson Max Manoeli
Harmony spokesperson Max Manoeli said 16,590 illegal miners were arrested in the Welkom area between 2017 and 2020.
“Between 2014 and 2022 there has been an increase in violent armed attacks on security personnel in some of the Harmony operations. The shooting incidents have been observed to be predominantly infights within the illegal groups,” said Manoeli.
In their efforts to take over, heavily armed illegal miners have engaged in subterranean gun battles with mine security teams, laying booby traps with explosives, and in one case “launching an explosive device” at a security team sent down on an anti-illegal mining operation, Wellsted said.
He said Sibanye was forced to close one of its five gold mining operations due to these battles, along with the insecurity caused by cable theft, and untrained illegal miners operating kilometres underground, potentially causing fires and recklessly blasting away in carefully engineered tunnels.
Corrupted staff allegedly help smuggle the illegal miners underground and sell them food and supplies to sustain their operations.
“[At] Cooke the four shafts and ventilation shafts were placed on care and maintenance partly due to ongoing illegal mining activity and employees being co-opted into illegal activities,” said Wellsted.
“Illegal miners are breaching ventilation shafts to gain access to underground workings and there is activity at the dumps as well.”
Zama zamas are mostly encountered by mining communities around tailings and dumps, such as the mine dumps near Krugersdorp where eight women were gang-raped on July 30.
The massacre at Mdlalose’s tavern in Soweto in July, which left 16 people dead, also brought the violence of the war between rival Basotho zama zama gangs Terene ea Chakela and Terene ea Mokata to the surface.
But mining houses have had to deal with violence and intimidation underground since at least 2016 and mostly without the help of the government.
“Despite numerous attempts by Sibanye-Stillwater to flag illegal mining with the SAPS and other authorities over many years, very little has been done and illegal mining activities remain rampant,” said Wellsted.
“SSW has on many occasions offered to assist with training and awareness programmes among the authorities, with no uptake from their side. We continue to work with the authorities on public-private projects.
“However, action from the authorities on a much bigger scale, from legislation, to foreign relations, to regulation, to visible risk-mitigating strategies and diversion programmes are required to address illegal mining effectively.”
In 2017, illegal mining was so rife at Sibanye’s Cooke mine that the illegal miners had started co-opting the mine’s workforce, resulting in a strike and the eventual halting of mining activity.
Sibanye’s efforts to control the provision of supplies to illegal miners by limiting how much food miners could take underground resulted in the strike.
The four shafts and ventilation shafts were placed on care and maintenance partly due to ongoing illegal mining activity and employees being co-opted into illegal activities.
— Sibanye-Stillwater spokesperson James Wellsted
Wellsted said during the strike numerous illegal miners surfaced due to a lack of provisions being brought down by Sibanye staff.
“In 2017 the [Cooke] mines were placed on care and maintenance and the entire workforce laid off pending closure of the operations.”
He said the mine’s closure has not been possible yet due to regulatory delays and a “lack of will and appeals” from neighbouring mines, who are afraid that rewatering the Cooke mine’s tunnels will result in water flooding their deeper nearby operations.
Wellsted said since 2017 the care and maintenance of the Cooke mining operation has cost Sibanye-Stillwater hundreds of millions, a deadweight loss.
He said their inability to switch off the water pumps, which continue to drain water from the tunnels at Sibanye’s expense and close the mine, has resulted in gangs of illegal miners growing and becoming a threat to the community.
Of Sibanye’s remaining four operations, two are allegedly affected by illegal miners who have now infiltrated their shafts and tunnels.
One is Kloof, a mine with four operating shafts, two under care and maintenance and a number of ventilation shafts.
“The Kloof shafts are affected by underground illegal mining activities on an ongoing basis, with surface rock dump and tailings facilities affected by surface illegal mining activities,” said Wellsted.
Another mine is Driefontein gold mine near Carletonville, with two of its five operating shafts on care and maintenance and one closed.
“The Driefontein operations are significantly affected, with surface rock dump and tailings facilities affected by surface illegal mining activities,” said Wellsted.
Driefontein 6 shaft was demolished to prevent illegal miners gaining access.
At its Beatrix mine, illegal miners have not yet affected underground activities due to the mine’s relative isolation from populated areas in the Free State. However, zama zamas have started work on the outlying areas such as tailings facilities.
Mining houses have had to spend vast amounts of money on security and say they need more assistance from government.
A lieutenant in Terene ea Chakela confirmed to TimesLIVE that the groups had running battles with security officials from mining companies, along with rival groups.
Our operations are widespread and we have a number of members who work in legal mines. They provide us with information and access to the shafts. We pay them for that information.
— A lieutenant in Terene ea Chakela
“Our operations are widespread and we have a number of members who work in legal mines. They provide us with information and access to the shafts. We pay them for that information,” said the lieutenant.
He said he directly benefited from the proceeds of illegal mining activities through protection he provided to his group, such as providing members with firearms.
“I only assist when there are battles. Right now, I have a security company. I give these guys guns from my security company so they can go and fight their battles. In some instances I buy guns [from the black market] and give it to them as an investment. When a specific mine gets paid, I get paid as well because they are using my protection.”
A North West policeman, tasked with investigating illegal mining activities in the province and who cannot be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, explained how rife slavery, torture and rape were in illegal mining operations underground.
“What is happening down there is equivalent to slavery. People, especially young children, some as young as 14, are being trafficked by these syndicates to work underground and to be used as sex slaves,” he said.
“If you go against these syndicates and those in charge you are brutally punished. We have found men and children tied up. The punishment is to tie your elbows behind your back with detonator cords and then leave you to wander around in the dark until you die either by starving to death or falling down a shaft.”
The policeman said one of the biggest challenges with zama zama syndicates, which was hardly ever spoken about, was human trafficking.
“About two years ago in this area we rescued 30 boys, aged between 12 and 16, in Kopanang. They were being used as sex slaves and to cook.
The number of times we have found children is very high. What happens to them is horrific.
— A North West policeman tasked with investigating illegal mining activities
“Those [slaves] that are here are mainly from Mozambique. The syndicates bring them through to Brits and Rustenburg and from there they split them up and send them to the mines where they are needed.
“The number of times we have found children is very high. What happens to them is horrific. They, like many of the men, get turned and raped. Many are brought here under false pretences. They are promised work but when they arrive they are forced underground.”
He said given the scale of the problem, the government needed to establish properly resourced units, which had to have specially trained human trafficking detectives.
Wellsted said the cessation of mining operations due to illegal mining activities has not only cost thousands of jobs but has also closed the taps for government and municipalities where major operations have stopped.
“Illegal mining has a significant financial impact due to loss of gold-bearing metal and on the state due to no taxes being paid on income from illegal gold mining,” he said.
“There is also collusion between illegal miners and employees for financial gain, which worsens these activities and impacts, and communities are also placed at risk through the formation of gangs and the crime associated with organised illicit activity of this nature and scale.”
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