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- Twenty-one bodies were recovered from a mineshaft in Krugersdorp this week.
- Jacques Lombard says zama zamas are rife in the area and the levels of violence are extreme.
- Mogale City's mayor said it was suspected the men were trapped underground due to the heavy downpours this week.
A businessman, who runs a manufacturing company about 2km from where search and rescue teams recovered 21 bodies believed to be illegal miners, described the area as highly volatile, with constant gun violence.
"Although the police and our own security are extremely active, the area is so big that it takes a tremendous amount of manpower to keep the place safe," Jacques Lombard, CEO of Firmabuild Holdings, told News24.
"The levels of violence in this area are extreme. It is like living in a warzone."
Police search and rescue teams recovered 19 bodies from a shaft on Wednesday afternoon, while two more were recovered on Thursday.
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The mayor of Mogale City, Tyrone Gray, said it was suspected that the men could have been trapped underground and drowned due to heavy downpours in the area this week.
"Due to the rains, a lot of these tunnels have been covered in water, and this has dire consequences for people who are trying to exit, given that illegal mining doesn't have the same infrastructure and support that is necessary for safe mining," he said.
Gray confirmed that the mine was licensed, and the mining bosses were draining the water from the shaft.
Lombard said there had been bodies of zama zamas found in the area in the past, but this was the first time so many were discovered at once.
"They are just people trying to make a living," he said.
He said on hot days his staff would give water to the zama zamas.
"I think that has been our only saving grace, that we haven't been conflicted toward them."
But he said there had been several violent incidents on the road leading to their company.
Lombard recalled an incident when a truck driver stopped on the side of the road and was attacked by armed zama zamas.
"They stole everything in his truck. In fact, they stole his clothing, even his underpants, and he arrived at our site traumatised and naked.
"It does affect our business because the word spreads quickly, and people are told not to come here [because it is] unsafe. It does affect the amount of customers coming toward us," he said.
Lombard said most of the violence and gun battles among rival gangs happened at night.
"If you stay here after dark, you will hear the gunshots, virtually every night."
Lombard said that since the deployment of specialised units by Police Minister Bheki Cele during his visit in August, there had been a "marked decline" in the numbers of illegal miners in the area. But this was not sufficient, he said.
"As police do their operations, things reduce, but the moment the police move out, they then return. I think the approach should be sustainable and a long-term presence," he said.
A resident of West Village, Steven Ndlovu, said the illegal miners kept residents "on their toes".
"We are on our toes day and night. We have to be vigilant, because if they see you on the road alone, they will rob you at gunpoint. If you don't give them what they want, they shoot you. It's either they kill you, or they will harm you," Ndlovu said.
Ndlovu said he had been working closely with some security companies, who are protecting the area.
During patrols last Friday, Ndlovu said they spotted heavily armed men coming from the shaft where the bodies were found.
"They come out from the very same shaft with big guns. They came towards us, and we drove away because they don't want cars that they don't know around here.
"But there was a big truck being loaded here [at the shaft] from this legal mine," he said.
He said, "We are living in fear... Kids can't even play in the streets or the parks."
According to Bizz Tracers' forensic investigator and criminal expert, Calvin Rafadi, bodies of zama zamas are commonly found in illegal mining hotspots.
"These miners are dying from a lack of oxygen, leading to suffocation, because those underground shafts are not even ventilated for any flow of oxygen."
He said the Department of Mineral Resources must act urgently to close the shafts.
