South African police have opened an investigation after a mine dump collapse killed 14 suspected illegal miners and injured eight others on Monday night. An unknown number of people may still be trapped beneath the rubble, authorities said.
The incident occurred at a site legally operated by a mining company extracting platinum and other metals. It remains unclear how the miners gained access to the facility. Most of those involved are believed to be undocumented nationals from neighbouring Lesotho.
Regional police chief Lieutenant General Arthur Adams visited the scene on Tuesday morning. He told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that the walls of the dumping site had caved in on the miners, known locally as “zama zamas” — a Zulu term meaning “those who try their luck.”
Three of the injured miners have been discharged from hospital and taken into police custody. Adams confirmed all those involved are undocumented foreign nationals who will face charges of illegal mining and trespassing. Search operations continue, though excavation work at the site has been halted.
Illegal mining remains widespread across South Africa, particularly around abandoned shafts and dump sites where informal miners seek residual mineral deposits. The practice persists despite regular fatal accidents. In January last year, 78 bodies were recovered from a disused shaft in Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg, following a police operation targeting illicit mining at closed sites.
The industry’s decline has left many former commercial operations unprofitable for major companies, yet the prospect of remaining gold and platinum deposits continues to draw desperate workers, many of them undocumented migrants, into hazardous conditions.
Police have not released the name of the company operating the site where Monday’s collapse occurred. The investigation will examine both the circumstances of the collapse and how unauthorised individuals accessed an active mining area.