Aly Mullah, 32, sits on a white worn-out chair in front of the door of one of the shacks where his relatives died after inhaling suspected toxic gas on Wednesday evening at the Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg.
Ekurhuleni’s emergency management service (EMS) confirmed 16 people died, among them a one-year-old child, eight men, five women, and two other children. One more person later succumbed to gas inhalation, bringing the death toll to 17.
The harmful gas is believed to have leaked from a gas cylinder used by zama zamas who operate from a shack in the area.
Mullah grimaced with pain as he recalled helping carry the dead bodies of his relatives from the street after they had gone out to see where the smell in the air was coming from. The shanty opposite their yard is where the cylinder was allegedly left open, resulting in their deaths.
“It smelled like a toilet had exploded. The smoke makes you weak and it gives you a sharp pain in your throat and feels like it’s hitting your brain. It was so painful picking up the young bodies of my nephews and the others. We had to cry through the scare,” he said.
“We have no idea what we will do because most of the people are from Mozambique. It would make sense to bury them back home but we don’t have the money to take their bodies there. Life here is tough but we never thought something like this would happen.”
In the shared structure where he, his family and others live are seven doors. Each leads to tiny rooms that are shared by families.
In this yard, Jeremiah, Bonifacio and Benedict Tshivhula from one family died. Louis Chilose, Samuel and Naira Manyisa, and Lazarus Mondlala, who were also in the yard, died too.
When TimesLIVE Premium went to the area, the stench of the gas was still lurking in the air with many residents bearing it without masks. No evacuation was carried out.
Law enforcement officials were dismantling the shacks where tools like phendukas (cylinder circular tools used to grind the ore by hand), water buckets, sacks full of soil, man-made wells for sieving, and other materials were found.
Navigating the scene was difficult as the small streets had dirty water flowing and heaps of dirt on every corner. The shack dwellers stood on the streets and watched as emergency services, politicians and heavy vehicles descended upon their area in reaction to the incident.
Metre-long canisters with red (hazardous) labels and tools were confiscated.
Mullah said two people were still fighting for their lives in the hospital, a two-year-old boy and a woman, Florence Masiye, whose partner Benedict had died.
Nyameka Thwesha said she found her boyfriend from Lesotho on the ground, dead.
“There was a foul smell, like rotten eggs in the air. As I was going to check what was happening I was called and told people are dying on the other side, only to find my boyfriend dead. He was on his way to work, he worked in the mine as a zama zama. He provided for me and my three kids. I don’t know what to do, it’s too painful.
“We started dating last year in January. I don’t even know how I will alert his family because I don’t know their real surname. He was sweet to me. It was so bad, the whole area was smelling,” said Thwesha.
We are using outdated law enforcement mechanisms in a new era that needs new forms of enforcement
— Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi
She was told that the smell was gas coming from a cylinder allegedly left open by a zama zama who operated in one of the shacks.
By the time the paramedics arrived, most of those affected had already died.
Ekurhuleni EMS spokesperson William Tladi said it was unclear when the gas began leaking but when emergency workers were called to the scene at about 8pm, the cylinder was already empty.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said the country was under siege with illegal mining activities.
“We are using outdated law enforcement mechanisms in a new era that needs new forms of enforcement. People are saying bring the army, but the process of bringing the army into this country is prolonged. Illegal mining is out of control, I’m frustrated, we need a specialised way of training our officers.
“It’s not this only, how many people are killed on the highway, kidnapped, and attacked in their homes?,” Lesufi asked.
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