As you move over, you realise that financial crime has forced most of the mining projects to be mothballed because the investors did not have money or they were doubtful about investing huge amounts of money because of the credit crunch.
Also, because of the retrenchments that have been taking place, over 300 miners have been retrenched. Most of those miners are from Lesotho or Mozambique. Those people don't go back home and therefore end up around the mining area. That has resulted in unemployment increasing as rated in the Human Development Index, HDI. In other words, the standard of living deteriorates because most of the activities around those towns are linked to the mines. The problem is: Whose responsibility is that?
The hon Sinclair says the government has turned a blind eye. We never turned a blind eye. We would not have gone down there if we had turned a blind eye. [Interjections.] Excuse me, hon member - I wanted to say the hon Van Lingen. The fact that we did go down there to investigate was to show that we care about the lives of the people and we care about making a better life for all.
The Gini coefficient in South Africa is one of the highest, irrespective of the fact that the per capita income in South Africa is the highest in the whole of Africa. The reason for this is that these mining houses who disinvest planned to do so years ago.
I say this because I also used to be a geologist and I sat in the management meetings. For instance, Anglo American took a decision 10 years before democracy that it wanted to disinvest in South Africa so that when the ANC takes over only 40% of its gold would be mined in South Africa.
They moved over to Ashanti in Central Africa because the oil reserves there were still shallow and there was a lot of cheap labour and that would result in high profits. That was the strategy that was laid by Anglo American 10 years before democracy due to their mineral intelligence department. Now you come here and tell us that the ANC government does not care - that is not true!
Who is involved in illegal mining? As you are aware, the mining houses are pulling out and these people who go underground cannot move from one area to another underground, two or three kilometres, without a guide. I have been a geologist and have worked on the mines for ten years underground. I know what it is like there. It is dark, hot and one cannot breathe once the air is turned off. Now, who was guiding them when they moved from one shaft to the other?
As we were informed by the chief health inspector, they move up to 34 km from one shaft to another. For those 34 km they go up and down the inclines because underground it is not as flat as one would think. You go up steeply and go down the slopes and have to crawl in some tunnels. Now, who was guiding those people underground? That is why we say it is a syndicate, and mine management must involve some people who are sitting there at top positions in ivory towers who are pumping money to these people - they must be involved. [Interjections.]
Hon Sinclair is right in saying there are kingpins because we were told by the secretary of the mines that even though we were there, the zama zamas would, within five minutes thereafter, know about what was said in that meeting. We have said that we will fight crime and corruption and the Minister is right when she says that the law must bite.
Perhaps we should look at our laws, the Mine Health and Safety Act. We must look at our compensation Acts, because as we were informed just last week by the chief inspector on health, most of the people who die in the mines don't die from falling ground or locomotives that move underground.
The main cause of death used to be the locomotives that moved underground, followed by falling ground, but most people die at home because of pulmonary TB. The causes of that is the silicosis that is in their lungs, which they get from the mines and the mines are doing nothing about it.
Therefore, hon Minister, that is what we must look at; we should make sure that the law bites. These people go back home from wherever they came, either Mozambique or Lesotho, and that is where they die a slow death. And the reason is that they get separated from the mines without being medically checked by anybody. Unfortunately, I am also one of those people who got separated from the mine without being medically checked.
We must make sure that those people who are separated from the mines or leave the mines permanently are properly checked to make sure that when they pass away their families get paid by the mines if their death is due to the effects of working in the mines. Then the mine must pay.
Another example is, if one goes to the Free State goldfields, one finds that some underground water has been contaminated due to all the acids and minerals that come from the sludge. If you water your garden with that water you will kill all your plants. You cannot plough in a certain area between Virginia and Welkom because whatever you plant there dies and the cause is the mines and slime dams. [Interjections.]