Northern Cape police have recovered eight bodies under a mining tunnel near Kleinzee in Nama-Khoi municipality.
The discovery of the bodies was made on Wednesday after a tunnel collapsed on the victims.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Nama-Khoi municipal spokesperson, Jason Milford said all victims were foreign nationals.
Milford said there are fears that more bodies might still be trapped in the rubble.
He added that according to information they received, there were more than eight people at the mining dump site.
“Police are still investigating or in the recovery process of getting more people... we do believe that there might still be people trapped inside or underneath the tunnel but we can’t say for certain,” he said.
Milford said government needs to intervene and regulate illegal mining.
“There must be some regulation or some sort of formal minor activities where government provides relief or step in and say this is how we will do this, these will be the rules and regulation for us to issue permits,” he said.
“This is what we want to see going forward so that we can take the illegal elements out of the equation.”
The discovery of the eight bodies comes after five bodies believed to be that of Zama-zamas, were found last week in Riverlea, Johannesburg nearby Zamimpilo informal settlement.
Its alleged the victims were part of an illegal mining gang and were gunned down after engaging in a shooting with another rival gang.
The incident led residents to vent their frustration over the illegal mining and violence by blocking roads and burning tires in a protest.
On Monday, Police Minister Bheki Cele went to Riverlea with high-level delegation where they engaged with concerned community members, and assured them that police are mobilising all resources and specialised units to the area.
“Hold me on my word. We will change the situation. We will make sure that this community feels safe. We can’t allow the state to be terrorised by illegal miners who are illegal foreigners. We will not be terrorised by people who are undocumented,” he told residents.
Meanwhile, Eyewitness News reported that the national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, said police did not have enough resources to deal with the growing problem of illegal miners due to budget constraints.
"We need to sacrifice some of our resources to go full time on this problem of zama zamas. We have limited resources - the same people used in West Rand are currently in Mpumalanga,’’ he was quoted as saying.
IOL