By Jonk wa Mashamba
mews@alexreporter.co.za
Mahiken North West Premier, Prof. Tebogo Job Mokgoro will today meet with Lesotho Consul General. Mr Selimo Thabane and the families of the deceased illegal mine workers who will be identifying their bodies at Orkney in the Matlosana Local Municipality.
20 dead bodies of alleged illegal miners were discovered near a public road and others near Lawrence Park ventilation shaft in Orkney wrapped in sacks. Most of the deceased illegal miners are said to be Lesotho nationals.
The bodies were found last week.
Police said in a statement they were investigating the cause of the deaths, adding that the men’s bodies “were found wrapped in white plastic bags” and bore “severe body burns”.
“All the deceased are suspected to be illegal miners commonly known as ‘zama zamas’ operating in obsolete shafts in Orkney and Stilfontein,” just under 200km (125 miles) south-west of Johannesburg, police said in the statement.
Thousands of “zama zamas” – which means “those who try their luck” in Zulu – operate in the country, according to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). Most are in Johannesburg, South Africa’s commercial capital, which is built on some of the world’s richest gold deposits.
Between 2012 and 2015 more than 300 miners working informally in illegal mines are estimated to have died.
There are 6,000 “derelict and ownerless” managed by South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources, local media reported.
Informal mining is not restricted to abandoned mines. In 2009, at least 82 men – thought to have been illegal miners – died after an underground fire at an active mine owned by Harmony Gold.
