It was an emotional day for Tune Sekara as he identified the bodies of four of his relatives — one after another — at the Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp, North West.
Sekara, from Lesotho, was among several families from the neighbouring country who were at the facility to identify their relatives whose decomposed bodies were discovered near an unused mine in Orkney last week.
A distraught Sekara identified his two brothers Thabo and Tele, and his cousins Teboho and Tankiso. He last saw them in December, when they came home for the Christmas holidays.
“They returned to SA about the second week of January and they said they were going back to work. We did not know they were mining illegally. We just knew they worked in the mines,” Sekara told Sowetan on Monday.
“It is very sad to have had such a long morning and seeing the decomposed bodies. I had no clue I would have to identify people who were in such a state. What I saw today will live in my memory for the rest of my life,” he said.
The Sekaras are among 11 illegal miners whose bodies were discovered between Monday and Tuesday last week.
Provincial police said a gas explosion in an unused mine shaft may have caused the deaths of the men.
The provincial government on Monday led the identification process for the families.
Relatives took turns to go into the mortuary where they identified loved ones.
Lesotho consul-general Selimo Thabane said 21 bodies had been discovered by police.
“Eleven families came forward today to identify their loved ones at the Tshepong district hospital in Klerksdorp, though it was very difficult to identify the bodies because of their condition,” said Thabane.
Thabane said forensics had not yet confirmed when the men died. However, he said they had died between the end of May and beginning of June when the videos of the dead people began circulating.
“The bodies had tags with details of their family members and even villages that they were from. Hence their relatives were found quicker.”
Kabelo Mafi identified his 25-year-old brother Sellane. He said he had not even known where he was.
Mafi said he had not been in contact with his brother for some time because he had lost his phone.
“According to the information I got when I followed up when he left home, I was told that he left in May. It was his first time underground and he never made it out alive,” said Mafi, adding that police contacted him on Thursday.
The Moore family lost two relatives.
A family representative, who only wanted to be named as Sootho, said the family was broken over the deaths of cousins Tankiso and Thabo.
Earlier in the morning premier Job Makgoro visited the families at the hospital to offer condolences and addressed the community about illegal mining.
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