Johannesburg - The deaths of the Langlaagte illegal miners last week might have been avoided if rehabilitation work on the exposed underground tunnels promised by Central Rand Gold (CRG) in 2009 had gone ahead.
Eric Itzkin, the acting unit head for the Department of Community Development’s Directorate of Arts, Culture and Heritage, said CRG hadn’t honoured its commitments. Instead, it had left the historic tunnels on its Langlaagte mine exposed.
He was referring to a signed memorandum of understanding between Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo and CRG, dated June 26, 2009.
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“CRG said they would fill up the pit and make it good over the five-year time frame. They were going to start on the adjacent site to the south and move closer to the heritage area, George Harrison Park,” said Itzkin.
He’d tried to contact CRG on numerous occasions, to no avail.
“The mining it undertook on the adjacent site was hugely damaging for the environment and heritage, and opened the door for illegal mining,” Itzkin said.
CRG chief executive Lola Trollip declined to comment, saying only that it had submitted its intentions to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR).
Spokesperson Martin Madlala said the department was communicating with the landowner and the SAPS to find the best way to secure the site.
The department had started sealing and securing the pits after the incidents last week.
“It is quite a complicated network of tunnels and there is some contestation about who owns the land. It is our intention to ensure that all persons have surfaced prior to sealing,” he added.
“DMR, SAPS, Mine Rescue Services and other stakeholders have been on the site, engaging with the surrounding community and all interested and affected parties in an attempt to begin to disseminate information, secure the site and make it safe. DMR is engaged in ongoing discussions with the relevant stakeholders with the intention of having these mine openings closed or secured,” said Madlala.
He said notices of hole closures had been put up and security deployed since Thursday. Stakeholders were also working to re-erect palisade fencing.
The horticultural maintenance of the park was managed by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, but it had decommissioned it in September last year.
“We put up a signboard stating that access was prohibited after concerns over illegal mining,” said spokesperson Jenny Moodley.
She said the park was under the curatorship of the City of Joburg and the provincial heritage body.
University of Johannesburg geology professor Bruce Cairncross said there was a need for structural intervention to conserve the geology of the site.
In 2013, the Geological Society of South Africa’s Gavin Whitfield stated there was intrinsic damage to the geology of the area.
“Recent opencast mining activity by CRG has come within a few metres of the site, and it is probably only a matter of time before the old workings start to collapse into the recently created open pit. The old workings are in a structurally precarious position, with the possibility of side-wall collapse into the open-pit waiting to happen. Mining so close should never have been allowed; indeed, no mining within, say, 100m should have been carried out. This would probably have been the case if a proper environmental and heritage assessment had been carried out and followed,” Whitfield said.
Cairncross used to take his students to the old mine, but not anymore, due to its derelict state.
“That place should be sacrosanct - it is why we are all here in Johannesburg.
“From a geo-tourism standpoint, the park should be part of a gold mine tour that could include the collection at Museum Afrika. I took a tour with 20 international people in 2014 and the zama zamas were already there,” said Cairncross.
The planned heritage park, according to a design submitted by CRG in 2010, would have designated pathways surrounded by grass and trees, a play area for children, mining headgear, a viewing deck and a museum.
Moodley said that despite a commitment in 2010 by CRG to spend more than R5m on upgrades to the park, only R160 000 was spent.
The Heritage Portal, which refers to itself as the voice of South Africa’s heritage community, recently called for the public to nominate endangered heritage places in Joburg. The response highlighted the historical importance of the site.
Whitfield said the park was a memorial to the founding of Joburg. He recommended moving the original workings, including a portion of the reef, to a new site where they could be viewed in a safe and appropriate place.