Social development minister Sisisi Tolashe says the government can no longer rely on arrests and raids to address illegal mining.
She told a South African Human Rights Commission hearing into artisanal mining that a law enforcement response was not reducing the prevalence.
Her department was concerned about the presence of minors in and around illegal mining operations, where they are exposed to dangerous working conditions, criminal networks and abuse.
“When children are involved, the response cannot be limited to policing. It also requires social protection and child welfare programmes,” she said.
She told the inquiry her department formally joined national co-ordination structures such as NatJoints and related committees in the past year to 18 months after evidence emerged that minors were being exploited underground.
“People are using children because they know children cannot be charged and cannot be sentenced to prison. It is our role to protect these children at all costs.”
If we treat this only as a crime problem, we will miss the human cost, especially for children
— Sisisi Tolashe, social development minister
She told the commission poverty, unemployment and a breakdown of community structures were the key causes that motivate children to take part in illegal mining activities, directly or through association with adults involved in the activities.
“We want to involve communities, NGOs and everyone else so people understand this is wrong and children must not be used in these activities.”
She said co-operation with government departments, including social development, mineral resources, education and the police, was required. “If we treat this only as a crime problem, we will miss the human cost, especially for children.”
On the 2024 Stilfontein operation by police to “smoke out” illegal miners from the North West mine, she said her department’s “mandate is triggered once children are identified and referred” to it. She said there were 32 children underground, 27 of whom were returned to their families in Mozambique. Families for the others were not traced, and they are being kept in safe spaces.
Lead commissioner Nomahlubi Khwinana questioned whether the department should have intervened more decisively, given its constitutional responsibility to protect vulnerable adults and children. “The social development mandate should extend beyond referrals. It includes responding to humanitarian crises where access to food, healthcare and dignity are threatened,” Khwinana said.
Tolashe acknowledged the concern but said the Stilfontein operation unfolded primarily as a law enforcement matter. “his was a crime scene. Under normal circumstances, restrictions on food and humane treatment would not be accepted. There were operational realities that had to be navigated,” she said.
The prolonged police strategy at the disused gold mine included closing off shafts at points in an attempt to force the illegal miners to surface.
North West acting police commissioner Maj-Gen Patrick Asaneng told the commission on Monday police never aimed to deprive those underground of food, asserting the operation was focused on law enforcement goals rather than the denial of sustenance. He said the police were initially unaware of how many individuals were underground, their nationalities and whether there were children among them.
National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola told the commission food was permitted to be sent underground at different times.
Nevertheless, the evidence leaders noted the situation became so dire that a court had to step in and order humanitarian aid.
TimesLIVE
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