Johannesburg - Cosatu has called for the legalising and regulation of artisanal and illegal miners as an undisclosed number of zama-zamas remain trapped in an disused shaft south of Johannesburg since Wednesday following an underground fire.
Cosatu said yesterday that it was obvious focusing on criminalisation of small-scale mining - when there are millions of unemployed people desperately looking for jobs - was not the solution.
“The federation is calling on the Chamber of Mines and government to explore the possibility of legalising and regulating the small-scale mining, as a way of minimising dangers and also removing the criminal elements that send some of these desperate people underground, without taking any safety precautions,” Cosatu’s spokesman Sizwe Pamla said.
The federation cited a 2009 SA Human Rights Commission report that revealed that illegal miners were under the control of criminal syndicates that were working with the so-called legitimate firms to exploit these vulnerable workers.
“This problem will continue to persist as long as the majority of South Africans find themselves isolated from the mainstream economy and also still sitting at the bottom end of the economic pyramid,” Pamla said.
Zama-zama mining has become a widespread problem, in which violent deaths and underground accidents are common.
The Chamber of Mines said yesterday that illegal mining had been on the rise in recent years as a result of the country’s economic environment, which has increased in unemployment and poverty.
“Illegal mining is often organised and carried out by organised crime syndicates. Illegal miners themselves are exploited by criminal syndicates. Illegal miners are often heavily armed and where trespassing on operating mines, set ambushes and booby traps for employees, security and rival groups of illegal miners,” the chamber said.
Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane visited the disused shaft earlier yesterday, where he said so far more than 800 arrests had been made.
He said more than 200 holes had been closed by the department and mining companies, thus cutting off illegal access to disused mining operations.
“One of our biggest tasks is to get to the syndicates behind these operations, as well as the markets they’re supplying,” Zwane said.
DA spokesman James Lorimer said the state had failed to uproot illegal mining. “To date there has been suspiciously little official action to prevent illegal gold mining in Johannesburg. This will add fuel to allegations of top-level official involvement in gold mining syndicates.”
Kgothatso Nhlengetwa, an associate lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, in April called for a distinction between illegal and informal mining to formalise the sector.
By using informal structures, the country could start to formalise the sub-sector of artisanal and small-scale mining.
“Creating a legal artisanal and small-scale mining sector creates an opportunity for entrepreneurship for traditional communities and individuals,” Nhlengethwa said.
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