Shaft 11, Stilfontein - Reflections and Condolences - Thabo Makgoba

On his Truth to Power TV interview on the eNCA channel in December, Prof “JJ” Onkgopotse Tabane, asked me: “Father, what is the church doing about the mine workers trapped in the Stilfontein (Shaft 11) mine?” I responded that we are praying; we regret the attitude and comments of government leaders who wanted to “smoke them out”; and I added, “Some SACC [SA Council of Churches] leaders have paid a visit to the site.” *

Today, I am sad as I watch on TV and see the pathology services vans parked near the gaping hole of Shaft 11 and evidence of bodies recovered from up to one or two kilometres underground. (Non-South African readers can see the background to this tragedy here:

https://apnews.com/article/miners-mine-south-africa-dead-80a1a4809371269b592bf3e2695540ba)

Stilfontein Mine, to the west of Johannesburg, where my dad eked out his earnings from miners for our family's livelihood, is now a place where miners lost their lives, not due to the health and safety challenges as a result of poor mining practices, but due to workers having starved to death. Yet again, this tragedy leaves another deep wound in the heart of our nation. It opens our Marikana pain, the pain we suffered from the police killings at that platinum mine in North West Province.

Will the suffering ever end for people on the margins of our society? Yes, we are grateful for the lives of those saved in a difficult rescue operation, and grateful to the mining companies represented on the Minerals Council for helping pay for the rescue operations. But this is a moment of profound grief and shock, and also a moment to reflect on the systemic injustices, the economic desperation, and the human dignity often overlooked in our society.

++Thabo Makgoba

January 15, 2025

* See the SACC's statement here: https://anglicanchurchsa.org/sacc-statement-on-stilfontein-mine-tragedy/