RUSTENBURG, South Africa – Fourteen miners died on August 13 after a soil wall collapsed at an abandoned site near the Nkaneng informal settlement, highlighting the fatal risks embedded in South Africa’s illegal mining sector. Most victims are believed to be undocumented migrants from neighboring Lesotho.
Lerothodi Nale, a survivor from Lesotho, told Al Jazeera that the collapse happened suddenly, burying his colleagues. Fearing arrest due to his lack of documentation, Nale fled the scene after alerting security guards. North West police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arthur Adams indicated that additional miners may still be trapped underground.
The incident has shed light on the dangerous intersection of unemployment, migration, and organized crime surrounding chrome extraction. Rustenburg sits above the Bushveld Igneous Complex, a geological formation rich in platinum-group metals and chrome, which fuels global stainless steel industries, particularly in China.
While South Africa is the world’s leading chrome producer, illegal extraction has surged in the North West province. Experts note that chrome deposits often lie closer to the surface, making them easier and cheaper to extract illegally compared to deep-level mining.
“The disused mines are sitting graves with no geologists to confirm if rocks are still stable down there,” said Tapuwa Nhachi, a metals governance expert. He warned that fatalities in abandoned mine shafts occur nearly every month.
Nale described a system controlled by criminal networks, allegedly including a group known as the Maresha cartel. According to Nale, intermediaries recruit workers from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, providing transport and equipment. Once underground, miners are said to be held hostage, forced to work until they repay debts that consume 70 percent of their earnings.
Loren Landau, a migration expert at the University of the Witwatersrand, stated that poverty and weak enforcement create a continuous pipeline of vulnerable workers. “As soon as this batch of miners dies or gets injured, more destitute men are on the bus to replace them,” he said.
For families like that of Dineo Motho, the consequences are personal. Her husband, Kgadi Ntuli, traveled 400 kilometers from Lesotho in January to seek work after drought devastated their livestock and crops. Motho fears he survived the collapse but escaped to avoid arrest.
Community leader Mmanotshe Ramokoka described the area as an “ecological warzone,” where illegal processing sites threaten farmland and water supplies. He noted that criminal gangs profit massively from renting industrial equipment, while migrant diggers risk their lives for a fraction of the value.
Authorities have acknowledged the shift in illegal mining trends, with some operators moving from gold fields in Gauteng to chrome areas in the North West following government crackdowns like Operation Vala Umgodi. The Hawks, South Africa’s specialized organized crime unit, reported 23 illegal mining cases registered in the Rustenburg area over the past two years, resulting in 63 charges and the seizure of 20 trucks and 15 excavators.
Despite enforcement efforts, critics argue that without addressing the root causes of poverty and unemployment, the cycle of deadly labor will persist.
Why are these abandoned pits still so accessible? Better site security could save lives.
Hostage labor and debt bondage? This is modern slavery disguised as mining.
This is a national shame. They need to address poverty, not just raid the mines.