South African authorities in the North West province have carried out the mass burial of 30 unclaimed bodies believed to be those of undocumented illegal miners, locally known as “zama zamas,” who perished during a government operation at a decommissioned gold mine in Stilfontein. The mass interment took place after the legal period for claiming the bodies expired, with officials confirming that no relatives came forward to identify them.
The move comes nearly six months after a dramatic police operation launched in January 2025 to flush out thousands of illegal miners from a closed mine shaft southwest of Johannesburg. In total, 78 corpses were recovered during the clean-up and rescue operation, according to the North West Department of Health. The bodies were believed to be those of miners who had succumbed to hunger, suffocation, or accidents deep underground.
Out of the 78 recovered, only 25 have been officially claimed by family members and handed over for private burials. The remaining bodies were held for 30 days, as stipulated by South African law, before being classified as unclaimed and buried at state expense.
“These are people who died far from home, underground and unnamed. It is deeply tragic,” said a provincial health official who oversaw the burials. “Despite extensive efforts to reach communities in neighboring countries, many families never came forward—likely due to legal fears or lack of information.”
The majority of those who died were undocumented nationals from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Lesotho—countries that share long-standing migration ties with South Africa, particularly in the mining sector. The South African Police Service and Department of Home Affairs confirmed that the victims were part of a vast network of illegal mining operations that had taken over the abandoned mine shaft.
During the operation in Stilfontein, nearly 2,000 individuals were arrested in one of the largest anti-illegal mining crackdowns in recent South African history. Among those detained were 1,128 nationals from Mozambique, 473 from Zimbabwe, and 197 from Lesotho, underscoring the international scope of the crisis.
What began as an effort to combat unregulated mining quickly escalated into a humanitarian and legal controversy. Human rights groups have sharply criticized the methods used by security forces during the siege on the mine, accusing the government of employing starvation tactics to force the miners out of the tunnels.
In August 2024, South African police were accused of blocking the delivery of food and water into the shafts, effectively cutting off life-sustaining resources to hundreds of miners who had barricaded themselves underground.
“The authorities used starvation as a weapon. This cannot be justified under any legal or ethical framework,” said Nomsa Dlamini, a spokesperson for the Southern Africa Human Rights Network (SAHRN). “We are not condoning illegal mining, but these were human beings whose lives were treated as expendable.”
International watchdogs, including Amnesty International, have also expressed alarm, calling for an independent investigation into the deaths and the handling of the operation. “No one should die in silence and anonymity,” Amnesty’s regional coordinator for Southern Africa said. “This situation exposes serious gaps in law enforcement accountability and migrant rights protections.”
The South African government has defended its actions, stating that the situation at Stilfontein posed a threat to public safety, and that the mine had become a hub for criminal syndicates involved in gun-running, human trafficking, and unregulated gold trade. Officials argued that the siege was necessary to reassert state control over abandoned mining territories, which have long served as havens for illegal operations.
In a statement issued earlier this year, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said: “Illegal mining continues to undermine the rule of law, threaten the safety of communities, and cause severe environmental damage. The operations conducted at Stilfontein were lawful and essential.”
Still, critics argue that the human cost of the operation has been overlooked. With dozens of families across southern Africa likely unaware of their relatives’ fate, the issue raises deeper questions about regional migration, labor exploitation, and the failure of formal mining structures to absorb desperate job seekers.
Mining analyst Themba Nxumalo noted that the crisis reflects the enduring inequalities of the mining economy in South Africa. “The collapse of many small-scale mining firms and lack of regulation over disused shafts has created a perfect storm. Zama zamas are often seen as criminals, but many are simply unemployed men with no alternatives.”
In the wake of the tragedy, efforts are underway to strengthen cross-border cooperation to track missing persons and facilitate the repatriation of remains when possible. Embassies from Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Mozambique have called for transparent record-keeping, forensic identification of recovered bodies, and humanitarian approaches in handling illegal migrants.
Meanwhile, South African lawmakers are considering policy reforms that would allow greater formalization of artisanal and small-scale miners, including foreign nationals, to reduce the deadly risks associated with underground illegal mining.
As the dust settles over the Stilfontein operation, the unmarked graves of those buried without names or mourners serve as a grim reminder of the high stakes in the battle over South Africa’s mineral wealth. With more bodies expected to be recovered and buried in the coming weeks, human rights advocates continue to urge the government to balance its security objectives with compassion and dignity for all who live and work within its borders.
