The rise of illegal mining in the country has raised human rights concerns and questions about who ultimately benefits

The South African government, desperate to deal with powerful illegal mining networks, found itself in a crisis that lasted six months at the disused Stilfontein mine in the country's North West Province. In August last year, the police became involved in a standoff with thousands of illegal miners at the once thriving gold mine, closing off all shafts besides one and telling miners that they would be arrested as soon as they surfaced.

The operation at Stilfontein was part of a government-initiated crackdown on illicit mining that started in December 2023 through Operation Vala Umgodi, which means 'close the hole' in Zulu, a language spoken by more than 15 million in the country.

The abandoned mines had been taken over by gangs, often led by former mine employees, who sold what was found on the black market. People were co-opted into this illicit trade, either by force or voluntarily, and made to spend months underground digging for minerals. The government says illegal mining cost South Africa's economy $3.2 billion in 2024 alone.

As part of the police operation, entry points at various disused mines were blocked, along with food and water supplies, in a bid to flush out the illegal miners, known locally as Zama Zamas ('take a chance' in Zulu).

South Africa is a leading mining economy and Zama Zamas drill parallel shafts or open old or closed shafts. Only 26 South Africans were part of the 2,000 artisanal miners who resurfaced alive from the Stilfontein illegal mining operations - the rest were from Mozambique, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe.

In January, police completed the operation and rescued 246 people and recovered 78 bodies, with many of the miners refusing to leave the mine because of their immigration status.

Mining in South Africa: A long and complex history

The first mining operation in the country, a copper project, started in 1852 in what is today the town of Springbok in the Northern Cape province. There was further expansion of coal mining throughout the rest of the 20th century.

However, it was the discovery of two sizable diamonds in the 1860s that sparked a diamond rush - the 21-carat Eureka diamond and the 83-carat Star of South Africa, which ensured that the country, already under the yoke of imperialism and oppression, would become a focal point for the mineral wealth that lay beneath its surface.

In 1871, the first diamonds were unearthed at perhaps the most famous diamond mine in the world known as the Big Hole in Kimberley, Free State province.

Until the mine's closure in 1914, up to 50,000 miners excavated the deepest hole ever dug by hand, extending 215 meters underground. The mine would yield 2,720kg of diamonds and help establish the De Beers mining company, which remains a major industry player to this day, but day to day operations were characterized by racial disparity.

Briton Cecil Rhodes served as the mine's governor and later founded De Beers, while more than 1,000 black workers died during mining or from diseases contracted during work. Over 5,000 black workers were admitted to a local hospital with various conditions between 1871 and 1914, when the mine was closed.

After World War II, South African mining continued to expand, with the discovery of new uses for minerals and mining products, such as platinum in the petroleum industry to improve the octane rating. The construction of power stations drove the need for fossil fuels, and by extension mining, as the main source of South African power, while the merger of the Venterspost, Libanon, and Kloof gold mines into a single operation by 1968 established a project that has gone on to produce around 15,000kg of gold per year.

The number of people employed in mining during World War II grew with up to 158,000 people working in the sector by 1946 - this was also the year the African Mineworkers Union went on strike as 60,000 workers demanded higher wages. But police, backed by the government, clamped down on the protesters and killed 12 striking miners.

Apartheid, the government policy of racial segregation, encouraged the reliance on cheap black labor, legitimizing the divisions between a small group of white owners responsible for managing mining companies and large numbers of black workers involved in the arduous manual labor.

The Marikana tragedy

It was inevitable that the incident at Stilfontein would be compared to the 2012 tragedy at Marikana and the massacre of striking miners by post-apartheid police in which 34 miners and ten security workers at Lonmin mine were killed.

The Marikana Massacre was rooted in long-standing grievances within the South African mining sector. Lonmin, the British mining company that operated the Marikana platinum mine, had faced growing unrest among its workers due to poor wages, unsafe working conditions, and inadequate living conditions.

The miners had been demanding a wage increase from around the equivalent of $500 to $1,500.

On August 9, 2012, thousands of workers began a wildcat strike demanding better pay and working conditions. The strikers armed themselves with traditional weapons and this led to confrontations with both the police and non-striking workers, resulting in the deaths of several people.

On August 16, 2012, police opened fire on the striking workers, resulting in 34 deaths with 78 others injured. The police were widely criticized for being heavy-handed and failing to manage the situation without resorting to lethal force.

What became known as the Marikana Massacre sparked outrage as it evoked memories of the violent repression characteristic of the apartheid era and raised questions about how this could have taken place in a democratic South Africa.

The mine owner, Lonmin, was criticized for failing to address the legitimate grievances of its workers.

In 2015, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry (chaired by retired South African Judge Ian Farlam), established to investigate the massacre, released its report. While the commission criticized the actions of the police, it largely exonerated political leaders and Lonmin executives. The report did, however, recommend that further investigations and potential prosecutions of the officers involved be pursued, though to date, few have been held accountable.

Magnificent Mndebele, the head of media for non-governmental organisation Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), said there was no direct comparison between Stilfontein and the incidents at Marikana, although it was a reflection of how police treat the poor.

"At Marikana miners were murdered by police but at Stilfontein the community actually called the police because people were trapped in the mine," he said. "The tactics used by police to close off other shafts and force people out under the threat of arrest was a major issue and many miners refused to leave, some died of starvation as a result."

Mndebele told RT that the illegal miners were 'easy targets' and there were larger, more legitimate players who were benefiting from the illegal mining sector.

"Invariably, the lower-level players, the miners, are targeted and no one goes after the big guys in suits."

He said the South African government had dealt with the issue of artisanal mining as a criminal issue and claimed that it should be viewed instead as a socio-economic issue.

"Unemployment is rife in the country and when the more than 6,000 mines were closed, thousands of experienced miners added to the crisis," he told RT. "There should be steps to regulate the sector and develop policies because this type of mining, if regulated will add to the state and tax revenue."

What fuels the illegal mining industry

Illegal gold mining has been happening at disused gold mines such as Stilfontein and at more than 6,000 other abandoned mines in South Africa.

Sibanye-Stillwater is among the big gold producers in South Africa, alongside DRDGold, Harmony Gold, as well as Gold Fields.

A report by the Bench-Marks Foundation, a religious non-profit organization that monitors companies in South Africa and in the region, found that the proliferation of illegal gold miners at Stilfontein is the same as everywhere across South Africa and a significant contributing factor is that abandoned mines are not properly closed, so illegal syndicates gain access to those shafts. Illegal miners infiltrate formal and active operating mines and surface operations as well as discontinued mines.

In 2015, the South African Human Rights Commission released the Report of the SAHRC Investigative Hearing - Issues and Challenges in relation to Unregulated Artisanal Underground and Surface Mining Activities in South Africa. It recommended to investigate the value chain attached to Zama Zamas and stated, "There is a very thin line between legal and illegal when it comes to moving, processing and selling illegally mined gold. The Commission has heard that Zama Zamas are sometimes approached to collude with legal operations (including by mining license holders and refineries) in order for the illegally mined product to be moved - including beyond South Africa's borders - in a manner that enables tax evasion".

In a 2014 report, the World Gold Council noted that vast amounts of gold were smuggled out of Africa yearly. This includes 25 tons smuggled from South Africa worth over $1 billion, 30 tons from Sudan, and 20 tons from Zimbabwe, worth over $500 million.

The South African Communist Party's national spokesperson, Alex Mashilo, said the rise of illegal mining is deeply connected to the broader crises affecting southern Africa.

"The capitalist system has failed to create work for all, resulting in widespread unemployment, poverty and inequality. It has also deepened the crisis of social reproduction," Mashilo said in a statement.

"Many of the individuals drawn into illegal mining are undocumented migrants, often lacking work permits. Some are coerced by recruiters, while others, driven by desperation, come from countries such as Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe."

He also stressed that the miners operate in hazardous conditions and risk their lives while fueling an illicit economy that primarily benefits criminal networks. "Among these networks are white-collar criminals who buy and sell illegally mined minerals for profit. There is also evidence of collusion by certain established mining houses, further entrenching this crisis."

Illegal mining does not occur in isolation and is accompanied by other crimes, including the illegal trade in minerals, firearms and drugs, as well as human trafficking, Mashilo said.

As of today, though rooted in colonial and apartheid times, the problems of the mining industry, which is crucial to the economy, remain deep and often clouded by a complexity of reasons.