Zuko Komisa

Mantashe visits Virginia mine where 31 suspected illegal miners died.
Point of View with Phemelo Motene spoke to Lead Researcher at Bench Mark Foundation, David Van Wyk about illegal mining in South Africa after Minister Gwede Mantashe visited Virginia Mine in Welkom where 31 suspected illegal miners are believed to have died.
Listen to the full conversation here:
The number of illegal miners from Lesotho who perished underground at the Virginia Mine in the Free State may climb from the 31 that have been reported, according to Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) received a report of the occurrence over the weekend and stated that it will be difficult to carry out measures to recover bodies that are buried underground.
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Mantashe was giving a speech at the Welkom mine when the catastrophe happened there in May of this year.
“We have agreed to put our heads together to find a solution. We can’t leave those bodies underground with our conscience. That is what we are working on but this is going to take a bit longer because there is no direct shaft that has a connection with this shaft.
“When we opened the shaft, we discovered that the shaft that has a tunnel to this shaft is sealed…not only on the surface but it has been filled up. So the problem is much bigger but we are going to confront that problem ,”
“If it takes longer then it can take longer but we must take those bodies out. We have made that commitment,”
“We commend Harmony [Gold mining company] for doing rehabilitation. There’s something called concurrent rehabilitation. Any mine that is operational does not wait until it is a derelict mine to rehabilitate. Harmony has done a lot of work there, they have sealed a number of the shafts ,” he said
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