A suspected illegal chrome miner has drowned, and two others are presumed to have drowned in the river at Atok, outside Burgersfort in Limpopo.
A body has been retrieved, apparently by fellow zama-zamas, who are believed to be undocumented Zimbabwean nationals.
Atok community leader, Pearl Makgolane, says a group of suspected illegal miners were fleeing a police raid from an illegal chrome mine when they jumped into the river. Some managed to swim across, but two are unaccounted for.
Makgolane says they need help to retrieve the missing miners.
“Some police were running after those illegal miners on foot, and the other police were using police vans. It was two groups of these illegal miners who were fleeing from the police. The other group managed to cross the river safely, and three of the second group drowned. Unfortunately, one of the three was found dead in the river. The other two are still missing, and we are looking for them.”
Video: Bodies of illegal miners retrieved at Burgersfort in Limpopo
Mining expert at Action Aid, Sifiso Dladla, has called on the government to issue small-scale mine licenses so that people can mine legally.
Dladla says, “The only thing that’s needed for the industry is to decriminalize it, formalize it, and regulate it. Yes, one cannot deny that there are criminal elements because there not only criminal elements in mining; there are criminal elements even in migration because people are in the country illegally, for different reasons. That’s where the criminal element begins. But now it’s been so many years, and this industry is not only in South Africa. It’s a global phenomenon. The operations are intercepted on Monday, and on Friday, people are back working.”
