Production at both Optimum and Koornfontein Mines have come to a grinding halt due to the nationwide manhunt for Ajay Gupta.

Optimum has meanwhile been slapped with a R577 million fine by Hendrina Power Station for failing to deliver an agreed 16 000 tonnes of coal per day to the generator.

Before Wednesday’s walkout by Optimum and Koornfontein mineworkers, Optimum delivered a reduced 3000 tonnes of coal to the generator each day.

Read: Optimum on lockdown, minders down tools, demand answers from Ministries

Apart from Hendrina and Kwazamakuhle having been without water for two weeks, production at Klipbank and Sandile Mine are also stalling due to the water network shutdown at the plant.

All contractors have withdrawn their workers and machinery from the Mpumalanga mines affected by the Zupta state capture saga.

Numsa on Wednesday announced that Optimum Mine management had conceded to the fact that the acquisition of Optimum by Swiss-based Charles King SA for R2.97 billion in August last year, had been nothing but a smokescreen to ensure that production at the mines continued.

The Department of Mineral Resources confirmed that no application for the sale had been received and that the acquisition would not take place.

Read: GUPTA – ZUMA: Hendrina without water after Optimum fails to pay workers

Optimum and Koornfontein can no longer guarantee the thousands of miners and contractors in its employment with employment security, or payment for services rendered.

A number of Middelburg businesses have also confirmed outstanding invoices for Optimum and Koornfontein dating back as far as October 2017.

The arrest of Oakbay CEO Ronica Ragavan who has been charged with theft, fraud and contravening the Public Finance Management Act, contravening the Companies Act and contravening sections of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, have compounded an already volatile Highveld coalfields situation, spreading much farther than just Optimum and Koornfontein.

Ragavan is the owner of JIC Mining which has also been flagged for nonpayment. Oakbay is the holding company of all Gupta owned enterprises including Tegeta which owns Optimum and Koornfontein.

Read: DA cries corruption over Optimum

As one of the Gupta’s most loyal lieutenants, Ragavan’s arrest in connection with the Vrede dairy farm scandal, in which the Guptas have syphoned off more than R200 million from the Free State Agricultural Department earmarked for upcoming farmers, merely pour petrol on the fire of thousands of disgruntled Optimum and Koornfontein employees, as well as the thousands employed by JIC.

With the withdrawal of the Bank of Baroda in South Africa, announced earlier this month, there’s no guarantee that miners, contractors and other service providers would be paid.

OUTA (Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse), succeeded in September last year to freeze R1.75 billion in the Gupta-owned Optimum and Koornfontein coal mines’ rehabilitation trust fund accounts, from which the Guptas were also accused of siphoning off funds.

Read: Optimum in wealthy hands

The Bank of Baroda stuck with the Guptas when four major South African banks severed ties with the family.

It is unclear what will happen with the R1.75 billion rehabilitation trust fund now that the bank has applied for withdrawal.

Mine workers demanded immediate national intervention by newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa as the Zupta state capture saga continues to ripple out daily, with the tsunami expected to hit home in Middelburg with more mines being dragged into the crisis.