Cape Town — North West acting police commissioner Patrick Asaneng revealed that more than R33 million has been spent on illegal mining deployments at Stilfontein since August 2024.
Speaking during a joint sitting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police and Minerals and Petroleum Resources, Asaneng said R23.6 million was spent on police deployments and R9.8 million on overtime costs, TimesLIVE reported.
In total, more than 1 500 illegal miners surfaced from the abandoned shafts in Stilfonten and over 90 bodies were retrieved. 1 826 suspects were arrested, mostly illegal immigrants.
Out of the 1 826, 1 128 were Moazambican, 473 were Zimbabwean, 26 were South African, 197 were Basotho and one each from DR and Malawi. Asaneng said they were charged with illegal mining, illegal immigration, possession of gold-bearing material valued at R46 million and unlawful possession of explosives.
“A total of 242 dockets were opened and all have appeared before the courts. Out of that, 35 dockets have been finalised. There have also been 477 deportations,” Asaneng said.
According to The Citizen, this was part of Operation Vala Umgodi as part of an operation to combat illegal mining in South Africa.
The Stilfontein mine became a focal point as the government, through Mine Safety Rescue Services (MSR), was compelled to intervene and rescue illegal miners who remained underground.
There are still issues over the ownership of the Stilfontein mine and other illegal mining challenges and Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe said more than 6 100 ownerless mines, with 1 041 in the North West.
However, he clarified that the Stilfontein mine is not among them, as it has a legally recognised owner, saying more than 7-% of the mine is owned by Chinese stakeholders. Initially, locating the owners proved difficult, according to the minister.
“We found them, ultimately, and we didn’t struggle to find them because they are not available. We started to find them because they were running away. We had to trace them right into China. So, it’s not an ownerless and derelict mine; it is a mine operated by a company,” Mantashe said.
Meanwhile, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu assured Parliament that investigations are ongoing to identify those who financially benefit from illegal mining.
“We’re very much interested in that, and those matters are under investigation. We need to get to the bottom of it all,” Mchunu said.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
