The portfolio committee on mineral resources has asked minister Gwede Mantashe, police minister Bheki Cele and home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi to explain what their departments are doing to put the lid on illegal mining.
Chairperson of the portfolio committee Sahlulele Luzipo said all three departments must explain their efforts as the issue of illegal mining is an urgent one since the rape of eight women in Krugersdorp last month.
“We want the minister, deputy minister or the director-general of these departments to come and account on what they are doing to address illegal mining…
“The [Krugersdorp] incident is unfortunate. It is a barbaric act. It is uncalled for. But we should not undermine the fact that similar incidents could be happening in other areas where there is illegal mining. If we don’t attend to this issue, our own national security will be at risk,” Luzipo told Sowetan.
The committee visited Randfontein, which is one of the areas that have been the target of police operations for illegal mining in the past week.
Luzipo said Mantashe's department made a presentation which showed that the mine where the women were raped has been under business rescue for about nine years.
He said the department had failed to implement recommendations of the committee which said it must get legal opinion on the implications of having mining companies under business rescue.
“When companies apply for mining rights, they use the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. But when they go through challenges they resort to the Companies Act, which allows the use of business rescue practitioners. These practitioners represent creditors who are not the people who were granted the mining rights,” Luzipo said.
He said while companies are on business rescue, Eskom can cut power supply and illegal mining activities start.
Luzipo said the committee believes that business rescue practitioners should be given a year and if they are not done with their work, the state should take over the mine. The state then can offer the licence to another person who can conduct operations instead of waiting for business rescue practitioners to complete their work.
In 2009, the department took over the liability for all derelict and ownerless mines of different commodities. The Council for Geoscience conducted an exercise and identified 6,100 derelict mines across the country. Over 1,100 shafts were identified to be still opened. Of this, 550 have been closed by the department.
Mine shafts are found in operations that go deep, such as gold.
In the past three years, 135 shafts were closed by the department of minerals through its company Mintek.
Flacco Ndlovu, head of mine closure and rehabilitation at Mintek, told the committee that to close just one shaft cost the entity on average R600,000. However, because the shafts differ in size, some can cost R300,000 while others go up to R2m to shut the shafts.
Ndlovu told the committee that they are considering relooking at the technology used to close the shafts as illegal miners do not stop to find new ways to get their hands on the minerals.
“When we close the shaft, we find that illegal miners are able to dig about 20 metres or more from that point to gain access to the underground tunnels,” Ndlovu said.
dlaminip@sowetan.co.za
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