Hundreds of unemployed men in Khuma township between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom in the North West were allegedly recruited to an abandoned shaft with promises of lucrative wages only to end up in a huge illegal mining ring.
The operations, which involved kingpin foreign nationals, have led to dozens losing their lives allegedly due to hunger and dehydration, but police have not ruled out the possibility of murders.
Most of the people who responded to the call were foreign nationals from Mozambique, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, who form the majority of those arrested or found dead.
There were also allegations that some of them were kidnapped and kept underground against their wishes.
Some of the illegal miners in Khuma, a township a few kilometres from the disused Stilfontein shaft, spoke to TimesLIVE Premium on condition of anonymity. They said they were also recruited by their friends to come to the shaft and earn about R10,000 a month from illegally mining gold.
“I should have also been part of the illegal mining operation, but my gut feeling didn't allow me to take up the offer,” said a 51-year-old unemployed former miner from Khuma.
He told TimesLIVE Premium the operations were led by Sesotho-speaking kingpins who were in the forefront of the operations at the Stilfontein shaft.
With the death toll now standing at 78 and arrests at 246 , this looks set to become one of South Africa's biggest illegal mining disasters.
Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said their investigations were looking into kingpins who were running the operations underground and were also responsible for recruiting the illegal miners under false pretences.
“We are also investigating the allegations that the majority of them [zama zamas] were kidnapped. They were brought here under false pretences and were not given a clear picture of what is happening here,” Mathe said.
Mathe said the blame for what transpired at the Stilfontein shaft should be squarely placed on the kingpins of the illegal mining operations.
“We had conversations, and there were interrogations of those that resurfaced, and the majority did not have a clear picture of what they were coming to do in Stilfontein. The majority of them are illegal immigrants from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho,” Mathe said.
Mathe said police had information that some of the kingpins were still underground.
“We are waiting for them to resurface so they can answer and take accountability for what has happened here in Stilfontein because we have information that people were recruited under false pretences,” she said.
She said police were following up on the information already gathered about the recruitment and the operations underground including zama zamas being denied food by the kingpins.
“No-one is asking where are the kingpins behind the recruitment of these illegal miners. Suddenly, there's a shift of blame to government [while] government was only intervening. What is happening underground is illegal, and we cannot entertain criminality,” Mathe said.
Another 18 bodies were retrieved from the disused mine on Wednesday morning.
The bodies and 22 live zama zamas were pulled from the shaft. TimesLIVE Premium understands parts of the shaft are filling up with water.
The rescue operation went ahead at the mine's shaft 11 despite drizzle on Wednesday.
Recovery operations continue to lift zama zamas from the shaft more than 2km underground using a metal cage.
Mzukisi Jam, a community leader and spokesperson for the South African National Civic Organisation in the North West, said though they were relieved bodies were being retrieved, the loss of lives could have been prevented had government acted earlier.
“Government was forced to do this. When we first engaged with government, there was no-one dead,” he said.
Lawyers for Human Rights senior attorney Jessica Lawrence said: “We understand the rescue operations will go on for a couple of days. Our hope is that at the end of this, all of the surviving miners will be brought to the surface.”
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