30 April 2025
Thembani Dube at the entrance to the shaft in which ten miners have been trapped since November last year. Authorities have said it is too dangerous to rescue them. Photos: Kimberly Mutandiro.
Ten informal miners have been trapped in an old Krugersdorp gold mine for five months after they were cut off by rising water. No-one knows if they are dead or alive.
The 10 miners were trapped days after descending 50 metres into an old shaft next to the Amatshe mine with seven others on 22 November last year. An underground stream cut them off from the shaft. Three managed to escape, and four died in the attempt. The remaining 10 were trapped when a tunnel collapsed.
Nkosinathi Maisa, who managed to escape, told GroundUp a day after they descended, fellow miner Calton Vundla decided to go out and seek food, and discovered the water in the stream had risen and it was difficult to cross.
Maisa said the group waited for two days hoping the water would recede, but it kept rising. He said he suspects water might have been purposefully pumped in.
He said the miners tried to create an escape route by opening a tunnel, “but it collapsed between the ten people in front and the seven of us who were behind”.
“We couldn’t re-open the way. We never saw or heard from the other group again,” said Maisa.
As days went by, food started running out and torch batteries were running low. On 5 December, he and another miner successfully swam out to get help, but they were not able to rescue the others without proper equipment. Maisa said a third miner managed to also make it out later.
“I’m grateful that I was able to see my wife and children again,” said Maisa, who is a driller and worked at Blanket Mine in Bulawayo five years ago. He moved to South Africa after his contract ended.
Gezephi Vundla said she saw her son, Calton Vundla, 24, briefly when she visited him in Soweto the day he went into the mine. Vundla said Calton said nothing about going down the mine but a few days later she heard her son was trapped underground.
“All I want is to be able to get him out of that mine,” she said.
Family members of the trapped miners, (from left) Thembani Dube, Gezephi Vundla, Locadia Ngwenya and Brilliant Ncube, have pleaded with authorities to help rescue the miners.
Vundla and other family members of the 10 trapped miners have sought help from the police, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), the Zimbabwean consulate, and civic organisations. Lawyers for Human Rights has also tried to intervene on their behalf.
Calton’s uncle, Thembani Dube, said police and officials from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) had assessed the situation and declared the shaft unsafe for rescuers or scuba divers.
With no official help, the families got help from other informal miners who went into the shaft on a rescue mission in December. They found four dead bodies but were not able to get to where the remaining 10 people were trapped.
“We must get help to get the miners out, whether they are alive or not,” said Dube.
Lawyers for Human Rights attorney Louise du Plessis said plans to take the matter to court were halted after the DMRE and police announced a rescue mission was too dangerous.
On 20 December, du Plessis wrote to the owners of Amatshe Mine, which has started expanding operations outside the shaft where the informal miners are trapped, asking for help.
“Any mine has various obligations in terms of both the Mine Health and Safety Act and the regulations to ensure the safety and well-being of any person in their mine. Four people have already died due to water being pumped into the shaft, despite knowing there were people inside,” the letter read.
Du Plessis said there had been no response from the mine.
The CEO of Amatshe Mining, Eddie Milne, told GroundUp he had “never been engaged by any families and authorities associated with illegal miners stuck underground and requesting assistance in recovering any bodies”.
Krugersdorp Police spokesperson Brigadier Happy Xaba said in December 2024, police had found three decomposing bodies wrapped in white plastic sacks at the corner of Paardekraal and Windsor Roads.
“There were papers written next to each body with cellphone numbers. It seems as if the deceased drowned in water,” said Xaba. “After some time, there were allegations that there were more bodies trapped underneath. There was no one prepared to come forward to confirm the allegations.”
Maisa said four bodies had been recovered from the mine and he thought the fourth body had been taken away by family before police arrived.
Xaba said District Police Commissioner had held meetings with the Commission for Human Rights and Methodist Minister Paul Verryn. The station commander had also attended meetings, including with the Zimbabwean consulate, as most of the people trapped were thought to be Zimbabweans.
“We were explaining the same thing: that the police cannot lead the recovery operation underground, especially when it is not safe,” said Xaba. He said the last meeting was on 12 March at the DMRE offices in Braamfontein. “All stakeholders were there when DMRE explained that the operation is not possible.”
Verryn confirmed that he had attended meetings with family members, police and the DMRE, and the conclusion was that nothing could be done to help. Lawyers for Human Rights also did their best to intervene in the matter, he said. He said he had asked the Human Rights Commission to investigate.
Milne said the trapped miners had “accessed historical underground workings illegally”.
He said Amatshe “would not be involved in any form”, as “the operations were of an illegal manner specific to a shaft and historical holing that was previously closed by the DMRE”.
Pressed on allegations that Amatshe had pumped water into the shaft in which the informal miners were working, he said: “Please note I do not have any further comment to make … it seems you do not understand the fact that illegal mining remains illegal mining.”
He added: “Please ask yourself where Amatshe Mining would find the water to pump into the mine and or shaft and or tunnel … Mines usually pump water out of underground workings to specifically stop flooding.”
The DMRE had not responded to GroundUp’s questions by the time of publication.
Amatshe mine has started installing infrastructure next to the tunnel the trapped informal miners entered, but CEO Eddie Milne says the company will have nothing to do with “illegal miners”.