Will SA’s new zeal for stamping out illegal mining fizzle or flourish?

It used to be gold in abandoned mines that lured illegal miners underground. Now anything goes – coal, chrome, platinum, manganese – all of which can be sold on the black market and then laundered through official channels.

Illegal mining is a massive business – worth up to R60 billion a year in lost revenue, taxes and exports, according to Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe. That’s probably an undercount because no one truly knows how vast the problem is.

Listen/read:
Illegal mining still a risk for the industry
Bodies and emaciated zama zamas being recovered from Stilfontein mine

It’s happening anywhere minerals are in the ground.

Near Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga, illegal miners are working an old gold seam right alongside the main road. There’s no attempt to hide it. The takings here will be modest – a few grams a day, enough to feed a small family.

But elsewhere in the country, illegal mining is vastly more sophisticated, with fleets of excavators, trucks and all the other appurtenances of mining.

On a recent visit to Bapong in the North West province, South African Police Service (SAPS) National Commissioner Fannie Masemola declared a zero tolerance approach to illegal mining. Up to five zama zamas (Zulu for ‘Give it a try’) are believed to be trapped underground due a collapsed shaft, made worse by recent heavy rains.

“We are enhancing and heightening our crime combating operations to deal decisively with these illegal mining activities,” he said. “We are deploying more police officers on the ground such as crime intelligence officers, members of the Hawks, detectives and tactical units to prevent and combat these illegal mining activities.”

#sapsHQ The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola has stated that #IlegalMining in Bapong will not be allowed to continue, as the lives and livelihoods of our communities are at risk.
General Masemola received a full briefing from the NATJOINTS on possible… pic.twitter.com/uQufK1s7LB

— SA Police Service (@SAPoliceService) December 16, 2025

There are an estimated 100 000 zama zamas who venture underground daily in mostly abandoned mines scattered across Gauteng, the Free State and North West.

Bapong is the latest flashpoint for illegal mining, where residents complained of sinkholes, cracked homes and disappearing roads due to illegal underground mining, this time for chrome and platinum. Police swooped and confiscated 10 excavators and other mining equipment, making several arrests in the process.

A used Caterpillar excavator costs upwards of R1 million, so there’s some serious money behind this illegal mine, unlike the panhandlers on the East Rand working for a gram or two of gold a day.

It is reckoned that about 80% of illegal miners are foreigners, and there are several reported incidents of Zimbabweans crossing the Beitbridge border with explosives for mining in their car trunks.

There were reports of armed men guarding zama operations at Bapong, though the police refute this, saying the local Bapo ba Mogale tribal council had employed private security to shut down illegal mining activity.

Echoes of Stilfontein

This has faint echoes of the January 2025 Stilfontein tragedy in North West province where police blockaded a mine entrance leading to the starvation and death of at least 78 zama zamas.

Listen/read: Stilfontein mining tragedy sparks calls for inquiry

As many as 1 000 survivors surfaced after police and the Department of Mineral Resources were ordered to conduct a humanitarian rescue. The illegal miners were accessing a disused shaft at the old Buffelsfontein mine, once part of Rand Mines, then Gencor and later Village Main Reef.

The police had imposed a siege of the mine in August 2024 to cut off food, water and other supplies to force illegal miners to the surface. With key exits blocked, many miners remained underground fearing arrest or retribution if they surfaced until the court ordered them to launch a rescue mission.

The months-long standoff took the lives of dozens of illegal miners, and prompted questions about how best to deal with the problem.

‘Close the mine hole’

Operation Vala Umgodi (‘Close the mine hole’) was launched two years ago as a joint initiative involving the army, police, private security and the Department of Home Affairs with the aim of dismantling illegal mining networks.

Read:
Informal mining in South Africa is here to stay
Death and desperation in SA’s illegal gold mines
Hundreds of people face eviction from abandoned Sibanye mining village

In June this year, it was announced that more than 18 000 illegal miners had been arrested, with many illegal miners deported. That figure now stands at 30 000, according to Lieutenant Colonel Tebello Mosikili, deputy national commissioner of the police.

#sapsHQ The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola has stated that #IlegalMining in Bapong will not be allowed to continue, as the lives and livelihoods of our communities are at risk.
General Masemola received a full briefing from the NATJOINTS on possible… pic.twitter.com/uQufK1s7LB

— SA Police Service (@SAPoliceService) December 16, 2025

An October 2025 report by the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa observes that these arrests are mainly of low-paid miners, leaving the kingpins relatively unscathed.

“Questions arise regarding whether irregular migrants are themselves victims of an organised, efficient, and well-funded criminal system,” says the institute.

“According to SAPS, arrested irregular migrants were consistently exploited as low-wage labourers and never held important roles in mining operations. Vala Umgodi specifically targets high-risk areas for migrant settlement, yet it has not succeeded in dismantling human trafficking networks at South Africa’s borders, nor have there been any arrests of human traffickers or senior figures in the illegal mining industry yet.”

This is high-risk work

A 2023 study by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime shows areas with high illegal mining activity also have murder rates above the national average.

Rival syndicates battle it out for resources and are often linked to drug trafficking, gun running, smuggling and other crimes.

Read: Gold mine pollution is poisoning Soweto’s water and soil [May 2024]

Illegal mining is seen as an entrepôt to wider lawlessness, and the police appear to be taking it seriously.

When Moneyweb previously investigated illegal mining on the East Rand, we were told the police seem powerless to do anything about it.

For a start, no insurance company will provide cover for a police officer tunnelling underground in a hostile and potentially life-threatening situation.

That’s quite apart from obvious dangers of collapsing shafts and toxic gases in the estimated 200 000km of underground tunnels lying beneath the broader Joburg footprint.

This means the police are resigned to watching from above ground, while some zama zamas live months underground, supplied with food, medicine and prostitutes by an energetic above-ground supply chain. That can be a long wait for the police.

Five-tier structure

Research by Minerals Council SA shows illegal mining is intertwined with transnational organised crime syndicates, and operates through a five-tier structure:

1. Underground workers (mostly migrants);
2. Surface organisers (who supply food, equipment and protection);
3. Regional buyers (often licensed fronts);
4. National and international distributors, often operating through front companies; and
5. Global receivers (via refineries and intermediaries).

Until recently, illegal miners were charged with trespassing and fined R200. They were back underground the next day.

Now they face more serious charges under the Criminal Procedure Act and other laws – provided prosecutors have the stomach for it.

Police are also getting training in the various types of illegal mining activity, which include chrome and platinum group metals.

A precious metals fingerprinting database has been established at the SAPS forensics laboratories which allows police to trace gold and platinum sources.

The police appear to be taking the problem seriously. A multi-disciplinary team from minerals, water, home affairs and justice has been set up to support on-the-ground police work involving daily operations to monitor and disrupt illegal mining.

Read:
Criminals terrorise old gold mining area [Dec 2023]
How Harmony Gold tackled the zama zama problem [Oct 2023]

“We are continuing with our disruptive operations and where necessary we will continue to effect the necessary arrests and conduct search and seizure operations of tools and resources that are being used to conduct these illegal mining activities,” says Masemola.

A few years ago, when Moneyweb was reporting on an illegal mining operation to the east of Johannesburg, police confiscated equipment from several dozen zama zamas. It took just half an hour, and the exchange of a few hundred rand, before the equipment was returned to them.

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