‘Kidnappers gave me alcohol, forced me down the shaft at gunpoint’

Illegal mining suspect reveals how he ended up underground

A suspected illegal miner who was one of more than 100 men rescued from an abandoned mine in Sabie, Mpumalanga, has claimed "kidnappers" plied him with alcohol and promised him a job, only to take him to a disused mine the next day to force him at gunpoint to go underground.

Speaking to Sowetan on condition of anonymity, as he is not allowed to speak to the media, a police officer who was at the scene of the rescue mission said the Mozambican national told them he was unemployed and living at an informal settlement in Sabie when he met the "kidnappers" at a shebeen.

Excited about the prospect of landing a job, he claimed he was kidnapped and made to work underground until police rescued him and others last week.

The man, who is in police custody because he is in SA illegally, was rescued with  suspected kidnappers believed to have coerced him and others into illegal mining.

William Modise, Khantlapane Mathotta, Thabiso Lebesa, Mokola Mothae, Khoase Mokhupi, Mankane Mochoko and Foka Mochatso appeared at the Sabie magistrate's court on Monday where they faced charges of kidnapping, illegal mining and contravention of the Immigration Act.

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Col Donald Mdhluli told Sowetan investigations have shown the suspected kidnappers were among those who recruited and coerced some illegal miners to go underground.

"We have released 10 suspects who are South Africans after we found they were victimss. They were recruited forcefully to work in the mine. We regard all the other illegal miners as victims of kidnapping, but have charged them with contravention of the Immigration Act. We have separately charged eight illegal miners who are foreign nationals with kidnapping and illegal mining," he said.

According to the police officer, the Mozambican man was unable to say when he went underground. He said when he was at the shebeen, the people who would later take him to the abandoned mine bought him alcohol and asked him asked if he was interested in a job.

Unable to believe his luck, he said he was and the next morning at 4am, they were at his gate in three cars packed with other men and to take him to his new job, said the police officer.

The man said the route they took leads to a timber plantation and he thought this was where he would be working.

However, he was taken to the abandoned mine where he and the other men were allegedly forced at gunpoint to go down the shaft.

He said the kidnappers guarded miners day and night at gunpoint while they worked.

It is not yet known what happened to their weapons.

All the men who were rescued and are not from South Africa face charges related to being in the country illegally.

Mdhluli said the decision to charge the eight differently was because "our investigations have proved they were part of the kingpins who forcefully recruited others to mine illegally after luring them with work opportunities. We don't know if the illegal immigrants had their documents taken away."

A rescue mission found three suspected zama zamas died, possibly from starvation, as they had not eaten for about three weeks.

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