Honourable Chairperson, hon Deputy President, hon members, the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources received reports in June 2009 that more than 86 suspected illegal miners died at Harmony Gold Mines in the Free State. True to being an activist Parliament, we immediately conducted public hearings followed by oversight visits that targeted other affected mines in the Free State, the North West, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. A detailed and unanimously adopted report on those oversight visits was submitted to Parliament on 27 November 2009. Our findings are that the phenomenon of illegal mining, which poses a serious challenge to the mining industry, is planned, funded and operated by highly sophisticated, well- armed and syndicated groups of criminals that are located within the country and beyond our borders. Their foot soldiers, who are at the coalface of these activities, are largely unemployed ex-mineworkers and general jobseekers, including ex-mineworkers from our neighbouring states. Apart from the ordinary people who engage in illegal mining activities such as for coal for subsistence purposes at Coronation Mines in KwaZulu-Natal, high-calibre weapons are used in forced mining in some of the mines such as Barberton Mines in Mpumalanga. Places such as G-Hostels in Welkom are used as treatment plants where the community gets exposed to high levels of toxic gases emitted during these primitive processes of smelting gold- bearing ore. Learners from the adjacent school are lured out of classrooms to participate in these hazardous production processes.
We appreciate and fully support the well-planned intervention strategy being executed by the security cluster in combating this scourge. The initial positive results have been registered in raids recently mounted by our security forces in Welkom and Barberton mines. This includes the offer of amnesty against prosecution to those illegal miners who surrendered to the police.
Multipronged strategies are required to rid the country of this phenomenon of illegal mining that has already killed more than 200 people and has cost us more than R5,6 billion in revenue losses per annum. We must remove these apparent and lucrative market conditions and strive for the eradication of conditions that are conducive to illegal mining. These strategies, therefore, must include the arrest and incarceration of identified kingpins and the withdrawal of licences for the gold dealers who are guilty of laundering illicit gold. Mining companies, however, must also be held directly accountable for access control in their mines. The Department of Mineral Resources and mining companies must be encouraged to assist small- scale miners to operate the mothballed and unused mine shafts that still contain gold-bearing ore deposits.
In conclusion, the portfolio commmittee is committed to processing all the necessary amendments to the legislation aimed at strengthening our legislative framework in dealing decisively with this scourge. I thank you.
There was no debate.
Chairperson, I move:
That the Report be adopted.
Motion agreed to.
Report accordingly adopted.