A hellish picture worthy of a Tolkien fantasy novel is emerging of the Stilfontein zama zama crisis – including improvised explosive booby-traps illegal miners could likely manufacture right there and use to resist a forcible take-down by Police and the SA National Defence Force.

Such improvised weapons – in the form of fuse-lit bombs and hand-grenades made from explosives shaved off legal mining supplies by formal miners and sold to zama zamas – would be devastating if used in cramped and hot tunnel mazes against law enforcement.

Combined with assault rifles and other military equipment of which the zama zamas seem to have a substantial supply, this makes occupied mines impregnable underground fortresses unless Police vastly upgrade their equipment.

According to police statements, up to 4 000 illegal miners were said to be hiding underground after police cut supply lines, although this figure has been questioned by a wide range of commentators and subsequently revised down to hundreds.

Up until now, police have also refused to disclose the name of the commander of the Stilfontein operation.

ProtectionWeb can now exclusively publish for the first time photographs of Zama Zama Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) taken during an underground SAPS operation as far back as 2006 in the Masimong Mine in Welkom in South Africa’s Free State.

The photographs reveal the extremely cramped conditions underground – and how the measures taken by mining companies to cut off disused mining shafts are largely ineffective and easily side-stepped by zama zamas.

The ongoing Stilfontein crisis has also exposed severe flaws in legislation and SA Police Service operational intelligence, technology and communication capacity – and weak operational resilience and morale.

Unless found in possession of gold-bearing material (GBM), individual illegal miners cannot be prosecuted for anything more than trespassing, a major legislative gap which is in the process of being rectified, says Willem Els, an intelligence expert at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

Experts say the rigid manner in which the SAPS and the Presidency approached and handled the Stilfontein zama zama issue from the outset illustrates how the illegal mining phenomenon morphed into virtual asymmetrical warfare and one of the apogees of organised crime.

As published by ProtectionWeb, the photographs show the SAPS as far back as 2006 had the capacity to conduct underground operations against zama zamas and had even then gathered extensive intelligence on their capabilities and organisational structures and conditions underground.

The refusal by police to initiate even a hostage negotiation scenario – with many illegal miners probably being held hostage by zama zama enforcers – at Stilfontein and use available technology to quickly resolve the crisis has also come under fire from a wide range of experts.

Instead, South Africa’s commitment to the rule of law and human rights was severely tarnished by the SAPS and Presidency, even seemingly forcing President Cyril Ramaphosa to admonish Police and Minister-in-the-Presidency Khambudzo Ntshavenhi on their inflexible and conflict-inducing stance.

This stance allowed zama zamas to not only escape with their gold but to also conceivably organise an almost impregnable defence had they so desired – but as it turned out, they seemingly opted for a rear-guard security action to remove their product.

Conversely, the crisis has highlighted the power and reach of organised zama zamas, who have evolved as the South African operational arm of a R47 billion per annum international dirty gold trade which rivals the illegal oil trade run by terrorist organisations.

Experts consulted by ProtectionWeb said technology was available to assist in a peaceful negotiated resolution to the Stilfontein siege, including:

Teleoperated Robots: Remote controlled to navigate tight and hazardous environments and equipped with high-definition cameras, thermal imaging and sensors to provide real-time feedback.

Bomb-disposal robots: These can be re-purposed for dangerous tasks such as reconnaissance and hostage rescue.

Surveillance robots: Used for intelligence-gathering, they can provide a 360-degree view of the situation without risking lives.

Photos by Willem Els.