By OBAKENG MAJE
19 February 2025- The police in North West said the process to identify 93 bodies of suspected illegal miners retrieved from Buffelsfontein Gold Mine’ Shaft No 11 between 3 December 2024 and 15 January 2025, is still underway. According to the police, the process came after they conducted post-mortems on all bodies.
The North West police spokesperson, Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone said nine bodies were brought to the surface through a pulley system/rope by community volunteers between 3 December 2024 and 9 January 2025. Mokgwabone said 78 bodies were brought to the surface between 13 and 15 January 2025, during the Mine Rescue Operation.
“Five suspected illegal miners died, while admitted in hospitals between 20 January and 12 February 2025. Of this number, four resurfaced at Buffelsfontein shaft No 11 and one at Margaret Shaft. One was brought to the surface at Margaret Shaft.
“In the investigation into the inquest dockets of the nine initial bodies, three were successfully identified and handed to family members. All are from Mozambique,” he said.
Mokgwabone further said as part of investigations, DNA samples were obtained from 78 bodies retrieved during the Mine Rescue Operation. He added that 54 fingerprints were obtained from 78 bodies for comparison.
“This process resulted in the identification of 10 bodies through previous arrests in the country. The nationalities of the identified deceased showed that seven are from Mozambique, one Zimbabwe, one Lesotho and one from South Africa.
“In an effort to get more identifications, members of the public and the community who do not know where their next-of-kin are and they know or suspect that they were working in and around Khuma/Stilfontein as zama zamas,” said Mokgwabone.
He said those who have not seen or heard from their next-of-kin for some time, were requested to get into contact with the investigation team at Stilfontein Police Station between 4 and 14 February 2025. Mokgwabone said this led to the obtaining of 45 control samples.
“The nationalities of the next-of-kin from whom samples were taken showed that 18 were from Mozambique, 6 from Lesotho, 8 from Zimbabwe, 12 from South Africa and 1 from Botswana.
“The working relationship among the above-mentioned countries continues in an attempt to identify the bodies. For enquiries regarding the identification process, Colonel Francois Jacobs can be contacted at 082 373 8216,” he said.
The Guardian 