Primary school children in Riverlea are exposed to dead bodies and flying bullets as illegal mining activities continue in the area despite the government's intervention.
Children and staff at TC Esterhuysen Primary School, about 100m from a decommissioned mine shaft, are under siege.
The school principal, Dorah Motsekgwa, explained the struggle and safety concerns to Johannesburg city council speaker Margaret Arnolds and the city's ombudsman, Siduduzo Gumede, during a site visit.
The ombudsman conducted an oversight visit at some of the decommissioned mines in the area that have been a source of great interest in the past months due to the activities of zama zamas (illegal miners) with concerns of crime and environmental health raised by community members.
The visit focused on assessing the progress made by police and stakeholders to curb illegal mining in the area.
“I think we are 100m away from the fence to the mine [shaft]. Safety is our concern and our children are using this route mornings and afternoons,” Motsekgwa said, referring to the road to the gate behind the school.
Children use the gate as the main entrance is on Main Reef Road, which is busy and also dangerous. The school has tried to get speed humps erected on the road.
Motsekgwa said there had been instances when people, believed to be zama zamas, hid their loot at the school.
“What the zama zamas find in the mine they throw into the schoolyard. All of a sudden you find someone entering the school asking if they can retrieve their item,” she said.
She told officials that when illegal miners started to fight within the precinct, it exposed pupils to all kinds of dangers — and they could stumble upon a body on their way to school.
“Our school yard for boys is at the side of the mine shaft. Because children are children, when they kick their ball over the fence, they look for it.
“We had to hire security for our children,” she said.
The guards monitor the children in the morning before school and in the afternoon as they head home.
Motsekgwa joined the school in 2016. Being at the school, she said, has also led to health complications for her. She said she never had chest problems before, but of late, because of the dust from the illegal mining, she consistently experiences chest pains.
“I’ve been asking myself if I have this chest problem, how many of our learners are asthmatic?”
Motsekgwa said scholar transport drivers were helping with the safety of the children.
The secretary of the school's governing body, Tiro Khalzeni, told officials that he joined the school in 2016 and there was research which found that if mining continued there would likely be a sinkhole formed “and all of us will go underground”, he said.
“Since that research was made, you people keep coming and going, coming and going, we don't see anything happening — we are in danger,” said Khalzeni.
During a visit to the decommissioned shaft, while one of the shaft holes was sealed, it turned out that illegal miners had dug another hole not far away.
One of the Riverlea community leaders, Ismail van Wyk, told Gumede and Arnolds that the problem was a national issue, with the department of mineral resources & energy and energy (DMRE), police and other departments promising to solve their problems.
He said the DMRE issued a tender to seal 24 holes at R75,000 each.
“We were promised as a community that these holes would be closed by February last year but nothing has happened,” he said.
He asked the officials to work together with the community and find solutions to the problem of illegal mining.
“This is a big issue. There are stray bullets at night. It is a war zone,” he said.
Arnolds told the school principal that the most important thing was the safety of the school.
“We need to ensure your safety on both sides, whether it is a sinkhole or shooting, because the community is complaining about the shooting,” she said.
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