In a recent press release, Mayor Herman Mashaba expressed his shock and surprise at the imminent threat faced by residents as a result of illegal mining with the use of explosives near highways, the Transnet bulk fuel supply depot, and the Sasol gas pipeline.
According to Mashaba, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) said, “There is no immediate threat to critical infrastructure as has been claimed”.
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But, the Mayor said, he was not aware of the Directive that was issued to West Wits Mine last year.
According to the press release, the comments made by the DMR are not only deeply misleading, but illustrate national government’s inability to proactively manage this situation and protect the safety of Johannesburg residents.
“From as early as October 2017, the urgency of the matter was raised by Transnet who wrote to me seeking the City’s assistance in stopping the illegal mining activities which not only threaten infrastructure, but resident’s lives as well. On two occasions, I wrote to the Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, requesting his support and intervention with regard to illegal mining with the use of explosives in these areas. The Minister chose to turn a blind eye to those requests,” Mashaba said.
“I also requested Mantashe to instruct his Department to provide us with specific measures, plans and interventions to avert this pending disaster by 3 April this year. This again was met with silence.”
Mashaba said these efforts followed several other attempts, made in good faith, to engage the former Minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, by writing to him on 28 November 2017 and again on 12 February this year.
“In my letter dated 28 November, I requested the former Minister’s assistance in terms of instructing his Department to provide us with measures and interventions to avert a pending disaster. This deadline came and went without any communication from the former Minster.”
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Mashaba said in the interest of inter-governmental relations, he had taken the step of also sending these letters to the Minister of Cogta, Zweli Mkhize; the Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura; the MEC for Cogta in Gauteng, Uhuru Moiloa; and the former provincial commissioner of the Police, Lieutenant General Deliwe de Lange, in the hopes that they would understand the urgency of this matter and assist in ensuring necessary interventions and measures are put in place to avert this potential disaster.
“Once again, dead silence,” Mashaba said.
He added that it is greatly disappointing that not only have the City’s efforts to date been wholly ignored, but that national government is now recklessly misleading residents by trying to downscale the magnitude of this risk.
“In the interest of ensuring that the public is provided with the full picture, I have chosen to release the letters we have received from Transnet during the past year, and the report compiled by the City’s Infrastructure Protection Unit.”
The Record is in possession of these letters.
Among the threats posed by illegal mining activities are:
* Near pipelines carrying gas and fuel – an increased risk for neighbouring communities, puts services at risk and creating an impending threat to the safety of the city employees working along the pipelines and other services within the servitudes;
* Risks of contamination of the City’s water supply;
* Earth tremors, which risk the structural integrity of roads, adjacent residential communities and businesses;
* The creation of a spark that can ignite a fire capable of incinerating a large area of up to 300m²;
* Compromised pillars supporting the decommissioned mines, placing additional risk on the physical structure upon which the pipelines rest and resulting in the potential collapse of the mine, and;
* Increased risk of damage to both the Transnet pipelines and the Sasol gas lines.
“Of significance is the Nasrec precinct where the pipelines intersects with Sasol gas lines. Investigations have revealed that if illegal mining activities continue within these old mining shafts, the entire FNB Nasrec precinct, including the iconic FNB stadium, could go down in ruins as a result of unstable earth directly underneath the area.
“The widespread use of explosives in decommissioned mines could have disastrous consequences for the residents of Johannesburg and may lead to large-scale loss of life should these explosions rupture the oil and gas lines.We are informed that just last week, explosives were being used within two metres of the pipeline in Florida.
“While we note the move to further investigate the matter by the Department, given national government’s record on the matter so far, the proof will be in the pudding. More so, what is needed is decisive action to resolve the problem. This is the action the DMR must engage in. The time has come for national government to do the right thing, take this matter seriously and act decisively to protect our residents,” Mashaba said.
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