Illegal coal mine's deadly depths

Story: Pieter-Louis Myburgh

Each time the determined zama-zama’s pickaxe slams into one of the rock pillars preventing the defunct mine’s ceiling from crushing him, big chunks of the coal he is risking his life for fall to the ground around his feet.
Elsewhere in the damp, pitch-dark shaft scores of other illegal miners are hacking away at rock pillars and cavern walls with equal zeal.
Equipped with nothing more than cheap headlamps to guide them on their treacherous path, yet more zama-zama’s push wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow laden with the sooty mineral towards a speck of daylight in the distance.
These were the scenes Rapport encountered this week outside Ermelo in Mpumalanga, where hundreds of illegal miners are risking their lives at an illegal mining operation local officials deem to be a disaster waiting to happen.
The illegal miners, or zama-zama’s, extract a staggering 30 bakkie load of coal from the mine’s treacherous depths each day and the operation even runs throughout the night.
Most alarmingly, the miners hack away at the very supporting pillars that keep the mine from collapsing in an effort to collect as much coal as they can possibly find.
The local police, municipal officials and provincial mining authorities are all fully aware of danger the zama-zama’s are putting themselves in, but they say only the national department of mineral resources can address the problem.
The latter was given a report on the illegal operation more than a month ago but has thus far failed to act.
The miners themselves say the lack of job opportunities in the area leave them with no choice other than risking their lives in the mine. They use some of the coal for cooking and to heat their own homes while residents of nearby Wesselton and other poor neighbourhoods in the region pay about R80 for a wheelbarrow’s worth of coal.
An entire bakkie load, weighing up to one tonne, fetches about R800 on the town’s now flourishing black market.
On weekends, children as young as 15 also risk their lives for a few heaps of coal, some of the illegal miners told Rapport.
A handful of the zama-zama’s were eager to share their stories, but others sternly warned the newspaper not to photograph them.
“I know this is not safe, but at least I am earning something. We try to make the mine a little safer by putting up support beams from wood we cut ourselves,” says 21-year-old Bongane Makhanya.
“Even school kids come and mine here along with their parents,” adds Makhanya.
Most of his fellow miners bemoan the lack of work opportunities in Ermelo.
“We are trying our best to earn a decent leaving, this is better than stealing. We are working for our families,” says Edson Chamba (23).
Jabu Radebe (45) says politicians have in the past promised Ermelo residents the government would create jobs for them, but little has come of it so far.
“They tell us these things to get our votes, but as soon as the elections are done we don’t hear from them until it’s time to vote again,” says Radebe.
Many women also partake in the risky operation.
Deli Skosana (56) and Alice Makutwana (47) carry heavy bags full of coal from deep inside the mine.
“I can make about R85 a day,” says Makutwana.
“This is very hard work. I used to work in a shop, but the owner died,” she added.
According to the miners, theirs ranks swell to up to 500 people on weekends, when many schoolchildren also come to lend a hand. There were at least 100 miners on the site when Rapport visited the mine this week.
“This is a disaster waiting to happen. If that mine collapses we wouldn’t even know how many people to search for or where to look,” says one municipal official.
The Msukaligwa local municipality’s official stance on the issue isn’t any less grave.
“The situation at the abandoned mine is ghastly as the illegal miners are putting their own lives in peril,” says municipal spokesperson Mandla Zwane.
“We have urged them several times to refrain from this illegal and perilous act without any success. The matter has been escalated to the (provincial) department of mineral resources in eMalahleni,” added Zwane.
“We’ve been on site with the local authorities and compiled a report, which has been sent to the national department,” says Xolele Soya, an official at the provincial department of mineral resources.
Capt. Carla Prinsloo, a spokesperson for the local police, says they can’t arrest the miners for trespassing because the owner of the land the mine is on hasn’t laid a criminal charge yet.
In the meantime, poor and unemployed zama-zama’s like Patrick Mdulu (44) will continue risking their lives to feed their families.
“It is very dangerous, I’ve seen pieces of rock fall from the roof. But I have children who are in school, and they need shoes, clothes and food,” Mdulu told Rapport before again heading back into the dark, dangerous cavern from which his family now derives its sole source of income.

Storie: Pieter Louis Myburg (Rapport Joernalis)

Honderde onwettige mynwerkers, van wie sommige minderjarig is, haal daagliks bakkievragte steenkool uit ’n ou, onstabiele myn buite Ermelo in Mpumalanga.

Plaaslike owerhede bestempel dié heeltydse mynbedryf as ’n ramp wat wag om te gebeur.

Die nasionale departement van minerale hulpbronne het al ­weke gelede ’n verslag oor die dreigende treurspel ontvang, maar het blykbaar nog niks daaraan gedoen nie.

’n Boer wie se plaas aan die myn grens, pleit nou dat iemand moet ingryp voordat ’n ramp hom op sy voorstoep afspeel.

Die mynwerkers ry oor sý grond wanneer hulle elke dag tot 30 bakkiesvragte onwettige steenkool van die myn af wegry. 

Rapport was die afgelope week saam met die mynwerkers tot diep in die lewensgevaarlike skagte. 

Hulle dolwe selfs met pikke aan die skagte se steenkool­steun­pilare in ’n roekelose poging om elke krummel van die mineraal in die myn uit te kry.

Die steenkool word teen R80 per kruiwavrag of R800 vir ’n hele bakkievrag aan arm inwoners van Ermelo en die omliggende gebiede verkoop.

Die mynwerkers gebruik ook van die steenkool in hul eie huise en die res word aan middelmanne in en om Ermelo verkoop.

“Dit is baie gevaarlik. Ek het al gesien hoe groot klippe loskom en op die grond val,” sê Patrick Mdulu (44), een van die sowat 100 mynwerkers wat in die myn gewerskaf het toe Rapport daar was.

“Maar ek moet dit doen om vir my drie kinders te sorg. Hulle het kos, skoene en klere nodig.” 

Die mynwerkers sê tot 500 mense, van wie sommige jong kinders is, werk naweke en op vakansiedae in en buite die myn.

Al die mynwerkers met wie Rapport gepraat het, sê ’n gebrek aan werkgeleenthede in Mpumalanga dryf hulle na die myn se
gevaarlike dieptes.

“Dit is beter as om te steel en ten minste kan ek vir my en my familie sorg,” sê Edson Chamba (23).

Thomas Opperman, wie se plaas langs die myn is, sê klein groepies mense myn al sedert einde verlede jaar in die verlate skag, maar die bedrywighede het eers die afgelope twee maande in ’n volskaalse mynbedryf ontaard.

Opperman is bekommerd oor die bakkies wat sonder sy toestemming oor ’n deel van sy plaas ry, maar hy wil bowenal help voorkom dat die myn op honderde mense ineenstort.

“Hoekom moet mense eers doodgaan voordat die owerhede iets doen?” vra Opperman.

“Van die myners het vroeër gesê hulle sal my vermoor en my vrou verkrag as ek in hul pad staan,” sê Opperman. 

Hy is gedreig omdat hy vroeër vanjaar ’n sloot deur die pad na die myn gegrawe het.

Opperman was by toe amptenare van die plaaslike munisipaliteit en die provinsiale departement van minerale hulpbronne die myn in Maart besoek het.

Hulle het ’n verslag opgestel en aan die nasionale departement van minerale hulpbronne gestuur, maar dit het klaarblyklik op dowe ore geval.

“Die situasie by die myn is haglik en die onwettige myners stel hul eie lewe in gevaar. 

“Die saak is na die (provinsiale) departement van minerale hulpbronne in eMalahleni (Witbank) verwys,” sê Mandla Zwane, woordvoerder van die Msukaligwa- plaaslike munisipaliteit.

Die provinsiale departement het bevestig ’n verslag oor die mynbedrywighede is na die nasionale departement verwys.

“Dié is ’n ramp wat wag om te gebeur. As daardie myn ineenstort, sal ons nie eens weet na hoeveel mense ons moet soek nie,” sê ’n amptenaar by die munisipaliteit se rampbestuur.

Kapt. Carla Prinsloo, ’n polisiewoordvoerder van Ermelo, sê hul hande is afgekap.

“Ons kan nie die mense weens onregmatige betreding arresteer nie omdat die persoon op wie se grond die myn is nog nie ’n klag ingedien het nie,” sê Prinsloo. 

Volgens Opperman behoort die grond aan ’n boer wat nie die grond gebruik nie en wat glo baie moeilik is om op te spoor.

Ayanda Shezi, woordvoerder van die departement van minerale hulpbronne, het onderneem om Rapport se navrae oor die myn te beantwoord. 

Dít het teen druktyd nie gebeur nie.