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An emancipated miner is carried on a stretcher after being rescued from underground during the official rescue operation at a disused gold mine shaft in Stilfontein, around 150 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, 14 January 2025. A South African court has ordered the official rescue attempts to begin as an unknown number of illegal gold miners, or Zama Zama, are trapped underground, of which 10 miners have been rescued. The number of Zama Zama to have died underground has already reached 109 according to an attorney at Lawyers for Human Rights. The miners are armed and form part of a wider syndicate-driven gold mining operation that often uses disused commercial gold mines to search for gold. Picture: EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOK
The Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) has criticised the Portfolio Committee of the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) for its silence on the dozens that died at the Stilfontein mine.
Macua called for immediate accountability and action.
In a statement released on Friday, Macua spokesperson Magnificent Mndebele labelled the incident as “one of the worst mining-related human rights violations in post-apartheid South Africa”.
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The massacre claimed the lives of at least 89 illegal miners, who, according to the organisation, died due to “state-enforced starvation and violent repression”.
According to Macua, the South African Police Service (Saps), acting on government orders, allegedly blocked access to food, water, and medical care while preventing the miners from leaving the shafts.
Macua has now criticised the portfolio committee for failing to exercise its oversight responsibilities.
“The absence of parliamentary oversight, condemnation, or intervention in response to this atrocity raises serious concerns about the committee’s commitment to its constitutional duty to protect mining-affected communities,” said Macua spokesperson Magnificent Mndebele.
The organisation is demanding immediate action, including the convening of public hearings to hold the responsible parties accountable.
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Among its demands, Macua called on Minister Gwede Mantashe to explain his department’s failures in regulating mine closures and ensuring the safety of artisanal miners.
It also urged the portfolio committee to summon the director-general of the department to address ongoing failures in regulating abandoned mines, which have contributed to the rise of artisanal mining.
In addition, Macua questioned the long delay in amending the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), stating that protections for “artisanal” miners and mining-affected communities have been promised for more than a decade without progress.
“The committee must demand answers from the minister and take decisive action to finalise and implement these amendments,” the organisation stated.
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Macua further called for an investigation into the role of corporate mining interests in influencing government policy, accusing the state of prioritising corporate profits over human rights.
“The portfolio committee’s failure to act amounts to complicity.
“By remaining silent, it endorses the criminalisation of poverty, the militarisation of mining policy, and the exclusion of artisanal miners from legal protections,” the statement added.
The organisation warned that it would mobilise affected communities, legal organisations, and civil society groups to demand accountability if no action is taken.
“The lives lost in Stilfontein cannot be in vain. The time for passive observation has long passed — we demand immediate parliamentary intervention,” Macua said.
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