Stilfontein developments: One illegal miner has been confirmed dead

 

North West Community Safety MEC Wessels Morweng has given an update on the zama zamas in the Stilfontein mine in North West.

Morweng said the resurfacing of illegal miners is a police operation. The proposal for resurfacing of the zama zamas is broken into three phases. The first phase which has been completed began on Tuesday and was completed Wednesday. The second phase was completed the past weekend and involved assembling modern machinery and equipment, including a camera to check the shaft’s condition. According to Morweng, the purpose of this examination is to determine the kind and severity of methane gases.

The total number of illegal miners who had resurfaced since August 18 are 1 259. 871 are Mozambicans, 343 are Zimbabweans, 33 are Lesotho nationals one Malawian and only ten are South Africans.

So far, one body was resurfaced and the pathology process is underway to verify the nationality and the time of his death. All miners once resurfaced are taken through law enforcement process and thereafter all undocumented foreign nationals are processed by Home Affairs through their procedures.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido