Police say they’re unsure how many illegal miners remain underground at Sheba mine as more continue to surface.
It is still not clear how many illegal miners are hiding or trapped underground in Sheba mine near Barberton in Mpumalanga, according to the police.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Donald Mdluli said they were not actively involved in forcing the zama zamas out.
Mdluli previously reported that 1 000 miners were arrested but said the correct number was more than 500.
Police confirm they still don’t know how many miners are underground
“Yes, initially, the private security company working at the mine informed us that the people were 1 000, but some of them ran back to the mine. Remember, this is not an abandoned mine or old shaft.
“What is happening her is that when the legitimate miners were done mining, they temporarily closed the sections and moved to the new one.
“The illegal miners then move into the old site and continue mining.
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“So, we are not sure how many of them are still inside. As the police, we did not go inside; we were waiting for the private security officers to assist them out and hand them over to us.
“After arresting more than 400 miners on Friday, 24 were arrested on Monday and 28 were arrested yesterday. We do not know what pushed them to resurface, as from Monday they were voluntarily emerging,” said Mdluli.
He said the operation that started on 28 July was a success and thanked all law enforcement agencies, such as the national roving team, K9 (Dog) unit, Task Force, Vukalanga Security and members from the combat and proactive team.
Operation started on 28 July
“The operation has been carried out successfully, which disrupted the illegal mining operations and due to the pressure from the law enforcement agencies, the illegal miners resurfaced,” he said.
Mdluli denied speculation that the miners were forced out of the mine but said the groups that emerged this week did so voluntarily.
Asked if police used the same tactics used during the Stilfontein operation in North West, where more than 100 miners reportedly died of hunger as police allegedly cut off food and water supplies, he said the shortage of food, if there was any for those still underground, might have been caused by the fact that their suppliers ran away when they saw law enforcement agencies raiding.
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“We never forced anyone to come to the surface, but they voluntarily came up with the assistance of the security guards. Thereafter, they were handed to us as police and were charged accordingly.”
Mdluli confirmed there were some illegal miners who had been refusing to come out of the mine. He also confirmed that operations had stopped, but more people were still coming out.
“So, we cannot say they are not there or they are there, but it’s something that is happening. When we enquire, we are told that these guys are not using the original entrance, but emerging from the exit they created around the facility. It is like they just come out randomly.”
Organisations call for caution
He said most of the suspects were continuing to appear in the Barberton Magistrate’s Court.
Organisations fighting for the rights of mining-affected communities recently called for caution as the government deals with the Barberton situation to avoid unnecessary loss of life.
