KEY POINTS
- Only three of the 93 illegal miners have been claimed.
- Authorities are using DNA and fingerprints to identify victims.
- Police urge families of missing miners to come forward.
According to North West police, the relatives of just three of the 93 illegal miners who perished in Stilfontein have yet to make a claim.
Most victims remain unclaimed weeks after deadly Stilfontein incident
Since police asked family members to assist in identifying them three weeks ago, no next of kin have stepped forward to claim the remaining dead, thus they remain in state mortuaries.
According to New Zimbabwe ten of the remains were identified by police based on documents indicating the suspects had previously been arrested, but the remaining 80 are still unidentified.
Police spokeswoman Brig. Sabata Mokgwabone stated that fingerprints were taken for comparison and DNA samples were extracted from the bodies.
According to Mokgwabone, “this process led to the identification of 10 bodies through previous arrests in the country.” The police database was used to identify the ten, revealing that they had been arrested in Jane Furse, Burgersfort, Welkom, Barberton, and KwaMhlanga.
Mokgwabone verified that seven of the people named were from Mozambique, one was from South Africa, and the others were from Zimbabwe and Lesotho. He gave no information about their prior accusations.
Authorities delay burials to give families more time
“Their families have not yet identified them, but we have their specifics,” he stated.
According to Mokgwabone, the three alleged bodies have been turned over to their Mozambican relatives.
The remaining bodies will be detained until police have made every attempt to find their next of kin, according to Lucas Mothibedi, a spokesman for the North West Department of Health.
“When there are no problems, like police investigations, unresolved legal documents, or court battles, the law allows us to keep them for 30 days,” Mothibedi stated. “But in a special situation like this, we can keep them as long as we haven’t exhausted every option.”
He stated that police will advise authorities on when to start the funeral process for the poor.
Burying them is a last resort; the goal here is to make sure we locate families. Mothibedi remarked, “We have enough room to keep them.”
Mokgwabone asked anyone with missing family members who were zama zamas, or illegal miners, who worked in or near Khuma and Stilfontein and had not been seen or heard from recently to get in touch with investigators at the Stilfontein police station.
As a result, he claimed, “we were able to collect 45 control samples: 18 from Mozambicans, 6 from Lesotho, 8 from Zimbabweans, 12 from South Africans, and 1 from a Botswana national.”
