National police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, attends zama zama rescue operation in Sabie

Nobody would have thought that the quiet town of Sabie could turn into a hive of illegal mining activities and see top officials, including the national police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, Premier Mandla Ndlovu and Thaba Chweu’s executive mayor, Friddah Nkadimeng, descending on it to monitor the extraction mission of over 150 zama zamas.

This is exactly what happened on December 5 at the abandoned South Mine in the Sabie plantations where some zama zamas were allegedly keeping these 150 souls underground in forced labour to mine gold-bearing ore.

The dramatic operation started when some law enforcement agencies came across four men in the nearby plantations who were apparently running for their lives.

They stopped and questioned them, and the men explained that they were part of more than 150 zama zamas who were trapped in the mine.

ALSO READ: Final total of 154 zama zamas brought out of illegal mine near Sabie

This led to further investigations that resulted in the immediate rescue of two more people, who also confirmed many others were still below.

Masemola was flanked by other senior ranking officials, including the divisional commissioner for visible policing and operations, Lieutenant General Maropeng Johanna Mamotheti, the acting provincial police commissioner, Major General Dr Zeph Mkhwanazi, the divisional commissioner for crime detection and forensic services, Lieutenant General Hilda Khosi Senthumule, and the national police spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.

Masemola told the media there was a shoot-out between some police officers and about 11 illegal miners in the nearby Pilgrim’s Rest on November 28. He said three suspects were fatally wounded, while one cop sustained a gunshot wound to the leg, resulting in him being rushed to hospital. He has since been discharged.

Masemola said two AK-47 rifles and approximately 500 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the scene.

“It is a clear indication that these illegal miners are heavily armed most of the time. From December 2023 to date, 427 high-calibre firearms and more than 10 000 rounds of ammunition have been recovered. We should also take note that since Operation Vala Umgodi started in December 2023, it has been hard at work.”

Also read: National police commissioner and senior cops to join Sabie zama zama rescue operation

Meanwhile, Ndlovu emphasised that the government wanted the zama zamas to abandon their illegal activities, “because that is not assisting the country and it is also not assisting the zama zamas themselves. We are even losing revenue because of illegal mining, and I can hear the calls from other people saying that we must legalise illegal mining. So we can listen to that Chicken Little voice, which is irritating, but we can accept that we must have a dialogue when they are out. They should not tell us that we must legalise illegal mining while they don’t want to come out for us to have a dialogue,” said Ndlovu.

“So we are going to work here as a province to ensure that all of them are rescued. We want to save them from themselves. I like to thank the police and the rescue team for the good work they are doing. The zama zamas with whom I engaged are from other countries. They indicated to me that when they came into the country, they were promised decent work.”

He said the words ‘zama zama’ were a very good concept, because it meant trying to do something oneself, just not legally.

The rescue operation was finalised on Friday, December 6. The police reported that the total number of the zama zamas who came out of the South Mine shaft stood at 154, but this included three bodies that had been retrieved from underground. These were three miners who died there from the severe conditions.

The soldiers from the SANDF, members of the SAPS, security companies and a specialised team of rescuers worked tirelessly to eventually complete an almost impossible mission.

Each time a zama zama was taken out, he was searched by the police and handed to the waiting medical team to check his health. He was then taken to a police van to be transported to the local police cells.

The zama zamas briefly appeared in the Sabie Magistrate’s Court on Monday and were remanded in custody pending their next court appearances scheduled for various days this week and next.

A provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Donald Mdhluli, initially said 10 South African zama zamas had been released from custody, but he has since backtracked, saying they were still being processed.
Most of the zama zamas were said to be from Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

ALSO READ: UPDATE | Number of rescued zama zama captives stands at 33

“Most claimed they had been lured into believing that they were coming to work decently in South Africa, only to be later forced like modern-day slaves to work in the illegal mine extracting gold-bearing rocks at gunpoint,” said Mdhluli.

While Nkadimeng sent her condolences to the families of the three miners who were found dead, she also called for the deportation of all those who were not documented.

“Our water in Sabie is being polluted and we once experienced E. coli because of this illegal mining. Our electricity is being misused because these people boil their chemicals day and night, which results in our transformers bursting time and again. That is very expensive for us,” she said.