Illegal mining in SA: Expert calls for owners of abandoned mines to be held accountable

Illegal mining in SA is a multifaceted crisis which needs more than just one solution, said a criminal expert.

Criminologist Dr Guy Lamb added that the scale of criminality in organised crime requires more permanent solutions alongside the temporary solutions deployed to stabilise the situation.

He commended the Police Minister Bheki Cele, and Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise along with the justice, crime prevention and security cluster on their collaboration to combat illegal mining and associated crimes.

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“The situation is multifold, so the policing response and employment of military is a short-term measure to try and stabilise the situation and arrest the perpetrators who are perpetrating the violence,” he said.

“Ultimately, you want to be arresting those who’ve been perpetrating violence because there are some who are engaged in violence and others who don’t really pose a threat to those around them.”

He added that the state needed to find a solution to the mines, “they need to find the owners of mines to account, even if those mines have been abandoned”.

“And there’s also the process where they’re engaging with the governments of Lesotho and Mozambique because they’ve been portraying this as a migration issue as well,” he said.

“This is a sticky, difficult problem, probably because of the attempt to deal with it like an international relations problem.

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“There is a need to be focusing on who the owners of the land are, where the mines are abandoned and finding ways in which they can take responsibility in trying to secure the land.”

Lamb’s comments come after Cele and Modise had noted increased incidents where illegal miners held communities to ransom, committed violent crimes, including murder and rape, and caused underground gas explosions that damaged infrastructure.

Modise said there were 6 100 derelict and ownerless mines in South Africa and that “some of these mines are old and the owners cannot be traced”.

“There are 1 170 mine openings nationally, in Gauteng there are 518. The department of mineral resources and energy is going to rehabilitate three mines, has closed 40 mine openings per year and is conducting research. The department has plans to deal with this issue over time,” she said.

Mines to be shut

But Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the department intended to seal the openings of ownerless mines so they could not be entered.

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Meanwhile, in a radio interview, the South African National Defence Union secretary Pikkie Greeff, said deploying soldiers as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa would be a step in the right direction.

“The equipment and training which soldiers bring to the deployment makes the military the best option in this specific instance,” said Greeff.

“The soldiers will be highly organised and appropriately trained for the threat illegal miners pose. The deployment will require intelligence, an aerial capability, a communications network, diesel and ammunition supplies as well as accommodation and rations.” In their note

“Southern Africa’s security hinges on actioning its organised crime strategy”, Isel Ras and Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies said political instability, weak government service delivery and socio-economic marginalisation had provided a fertile ground for extremist groups to operate.

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“Organised crime and terrorism go hand in hand as the groups share common tactics such as acquiring local funding and resources, and benefit from each other’s illicit activities and networks,” they added.