Final sweep of disused Stilfontein mine shaft

Since August last year, a total of 1,907 illegal miners have resurfaced, with nine in hospital under police guard.

In Margaret shaft, 1,437 illegal miners have resurfaced, with seven more appearing over the last two days.

At the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine Shaft, 11,365 illegal miners have resurfaced, and at shaft 10, 103 miners came back up.

Between August and Thursday, 87 bodies have been retrieved from the mine shafts, with only two that have been identified so far.

Addressing the media, Mathe detailed the number of the nationalities of the illegal miners that have resurfaced.

"In terms of nationalities, we have 1,125 Mozambicans that have been arrested, 465 Zimbabweans, 200 Lesotho Nationals, 26 South Africans, one Malawian and one Congolese.

"As we've indicated, only two (bodies) have been identified thus far because of the challenge that the majority of them are undocumented. Some of them it was decomposed bodies that came up mostly as bones. So that DNA process to try and identify who these individuals are is underway."

Mathe added that the cage used by the mine rescue services went down to make sure there were no more illegal miners underground. 

"As a government, we are still standing static on all these shafts; Operation Vala Umgodi is not stopping; we are continuing with the fight against illicit mining."

Mathe also revealed that counselling would be provided for the two volunteers who assisted with the operation.

"What is unfolding now is that the detectives are still busy taking down the statements, allowing them to outline what they found underground and confirm that there are no longer any individuals underground. Thereafter, psychologists will then counsel these two volunteers who assisted in this particular operation."

The site will now be handed over to the Department of Mineral Resources and Petroleum and the mine owners.

"Once we've satisfied ourselves that the shaft is empty, then DMRP takes over, together with the mine owner,  and they do what is expected of them to do, which is to seal and rehabilitate the shaft so that we do not see a situation where we find ourselves where we are today, where we've had to stand static for a number of months at this particular shaft, calling on illegal miners to resurface,” Mathe explained. 

-Underage illegal miners-

Mathe said 13 underage suspects were rescued before the start of the police operation in Stilfontein on Monday

"The only underage illegal miners that were picked up and identified before this particular operation commenced were confirmed to be 13 miners that were placed under the care of the Department of Social Development.

"They were identified through various assessments by the Department of Health as well as the Department of Social Development. The 13 were then placed under the care of the Department of Social Development."

-Kingpins-

While the government-sanctioned rescue operation has come to an end, questions remain about the identity of the real kingpins.

"We know that those 1,907 that have resurfaced are just the foot soldiers. So, we are aware that there are those ringleaders who are controlling what happens underground. I've indicated that some of them have been retrieved, and some are already in police custody.

"We are looking for the kingpins, the real kingpins, who are recruiting and obviously have been on the surface and calling the shots down there. So, we will be following the money trail, the paper trail, and, hopefully, we'll effect arrest soon.

"...but like I've indicated, we are quite confident that some of them that have been controlling the operations underground are already in police custody. Our detectives and intelligence operatives are busy with them."

-Progress of body identification-

Mathe said the Department of Health will process the bodies, and that DNA testing would take time as some of the bodies were already decomposed.

"If families are not coming forward to identify or assist with DNA, then it would be quite difficult because we are working with undocumented nationals, the majority of them being illegal immigrants. As I've indicated, from the 18th of August to the 15th of January, only 26 South Africans were found to be part of this particular illegal operation.

"It means we've got a mammoth task ahead of us in terms of trying to identify the deceased if there is no proper documentation and if they are illegal in the country."

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