A North West resident where police found a mine shaft in her house at Nkandla informal settlement leading to Sibanye Stillwaters Khuseleka mine insists she could not have reported the illegal mining because the zama zamas had threatened her with death.
The identity of the woman has been withheld to protect her, but the woman said she knew that illegal mining activities were flourishing from her home, which was used as the access and exit point.
In an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika , the woman says her hands were tied.
I knew what was happening in the house because two men had approached me. One of the two men was a foreign national and the other spoke a language I did not understand. They told me that they had been underground, under my house for a long time.
They told me that I had to allow them to enter their shaft through my house. They said its a do or die situation. Those are the words they used. They said they needed to make money.
