-
The people in the mine – believed to have been illegal miners or zama zamas – were trapped for hours.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy says some of the abandoned mines are old mines whose owners cannot be traced.
This, as calls intensify for the government to hold the owners of abandoned mines accountable for not rehabilitating them.
The call comes as thousands of illegal mine workers remain underground in mine shafts in Orkney and Stilfontein in the North West.
The department says it has been able to close 295 abandoned shafts that were operating over hundred years ago.
Department Spokesperson, Makhosonke Buthelezi says, “The mines that we are responsible for, the ones that are disused … are those where you cannot even find or trace the owners. These are the mines that were mined before 2002 when NPRDA, which now require everyone who mines to rehabilitate. Those are the mines that were mined in the early 1800s. So, we cannot trace the owners, we cannot find them anywhere.”
VIDEO | Stilfontein Mine | Thembile Botman explains dynamics of shafts:
