Skip to main content
South Africa

Four bodies found after alleged mine massacre

Four bodies were found in a disused gold mine which belongs to relatives of former President Nelson Mandela and President Jacob Zuma, after local media report a shoot-out between illegal miners and security guards.

Reuters
Advertising

South Africa’s The Sowetan newspaper reported on Thursday that security guards went on a “killing spree” last Monday, gunning down at least 20 people at the Aurora mines, near Johannesburg. 

Then they left the bodies to rot underground, the paper says.

On Friday, South African police reported that four bodies had been found deep in the mine and say they are still investigating how the men died.

The ruling African National Congress has condemned the killings, and said that the security guards should have sought the help of the police instead of shooting.

The Aurora mining firm has said that four illegal miners were killed and a number shot and wounded, according to the British daily The Guardian.

But illegal mining is uncommon in the area where the killing took place, reports RFI correspondent Jean-Jacques Cornish.

“Mining houses in South Africa are very powerful, so one doesn’t have illegal mining, perhaps on the diamond belt, but in gold mining it doesn’t happen very often,” he says.

“Gold mine houses maintain high security so one doesn’t hear of illegal mining as one does in other parts of Africa,” he says.

The Aurora mine belongs to Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, and Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa Mandela. The company is embroiled in a pay dispute with its employees who have not been paid for month.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers has called for an investigation, as well as "drastic" action against the mine's owners. The union says the dead may have been former miners who resumed mining on their own after going unpaid for months and then being left jobless when the mine closed.

“We suspect that of course there may be a possibility that those who have been workers at Aurora, because of the dire circumstances they are finding themselves in, could have gone to this extreme to try and save themselves," union official Lesiba Seshoka told AFP.

 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.