Illegal miners are playing with residents’ lives
The mayor continued to say it is “greatly disappointing that not only have the city’s efforts up to date been wholly ignored but that national government is now recklessly misleading the residents by trying to downplay the magnitude of this risk”.
EXECUTIVE mayor of Johannesburg councillor Herman Mashaba said he was shocked to hear the Department of Mineral Resources’ comments on illegal miners’ use of explosives in the vicinity of highways, Transnet bulk fuel supply and Sasol gas pipelines across the city.
Mashaba said the department was “misguided” in its assessment that there is “no immediate threat to critical infrastructure”.
The comments illustrate the government’s inability to protect the residents of Johannesburg, said Mashaba.
He said on two occasions since October 2017, he raised the matter with Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe, but the minister “chose to turn a blind eye”.
Mashaba’s efforts to engage with other government departments and role players were met with “dead silence”, he added.
The mayor continued to say it is “greatly disappointing that not only have the city’s efforts up to date been wholly ignored but that national government is now recklessly misleading the residents by trying to downplay the magnitude of this risk”.
The mayor first highlighted the problem of illegal mining last year in a statement when he mentioned the use of explosives resulted in tremors that put at risk the structural integrity of the roads, adjacent residential communities and businesses.
In its statement issued on November 26, the Department of Mineral Resources confirmed that it had initiated a ground-stability study to be undertaken in the Johannesburg area with immediate effect.
The study, which will commence shortly through the Council for Geoscience (CGS), an entity reporting to the department, aims to assess whether there is any long-term damage to critical infrastructure installation.
Threats posed by illegal mining activity
Illegal mining near pipelines carrying gas and fuel creates increased risk for neighbouring communities, puts services at risk and is an impending threat to the safety of city employees working along the pipelines and other services within the servitudes.
It risks contaminating the city’s water supply.
Illegal mining has resulted in tremors that put the structural integrity of the roads, adjacent residential communities and businesses at risk.
Illegal blasting can create a spark that can ignite a fire capable of incinerating objects within a radius of up to 300 square metres.
Illegal mining activities have compromised the pillars that support the decommissioned mines, placing additional risk on the physical structure upon which the pipelines rest and risking the imminent collapse of the mine.
These activities have compromised both Transnet pipelines and Sasol gas lines.
These pipelines intersect in the Nasrec precinct. If illegal mining activity continues within these old mining shafts, the entire FNB Nasrec precinct, including the FNB Stadium, could be reduced to ruins as a result of unstable earth directly underneath the area.
“We are informed that just last week, explosives were being used within two metres of the pipelines in Florida,” said Mashaba.
He called on the government to take “decisive action to resolve the problem”.
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