After escaping a police raid, an illegal miner says hunger and joblessness leave him no choice but to keep mining.
A South African-born illegal miner, one of those who evaded arrest during a recent raid at Sheba mine in Barberton, has vowed to continue because he is unemployed.
More than 500 of his fellow illegal miners were arrested in the past few days and have been appearing in court since Monday.
The Swazi-speaking artisanal miner, who requested anonymity, said he was a Barberton resident who used to work for local mines.
Barberton miner refuses to stop illegal mining
“We are unemployed while we are surrounded by mines, so if someone offers us jobs, we agree because then we will be able to put food on the table.
“To show that the government and the mining firms are failing us, we extracted minerals from the places where they claim there are not enough minerals.
“Most of our people here in Barberton are unemployed, while we have mining operations in the area,” he said.
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Several organisations fighting for the rights of the mining-affected communities are calling on the authorities to legalise small-scale artisanal mining to create jobs.
Nolwazi Serero, of the Artisanal Small-Scale Mining Council, said there was hope that the government would, in the near future, formalise artisanal smallscale mining.
The department of mineral resources and energy has included a proposed licensing regime for it in its draft Mineral Resources Development Bill, 2025, she said.
Large-scale industrial mining in decline
Mining expert David van Wyk said since large-scale industrial mining was in decline, there was a need for the state to “create favourable conditions for artisanal, small- and medium-scale mining and facilitate community-based industries to add value to the diamonds, gold and platinum they extract, such as cottage jewellery manufacturing for example”.
Serero said the Artisanal Small-Scale Mining Council was trying to compel the government to legalise and regulate artisanal small-scale mining to benefit communities.
“Areas where illegal mining activities take place should be declared zones for artisanal gold miners.”
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If this was done, artisanal miners would not operate illegally on large-scale miners’ unused territory or abandoned mines that are derelict. It would also enable current informal operations to be formalised and permits to be issued, she said.
