Mantashe: More cooperation needed from Lesotho in dealing with cross-border crime

Mantashe visited the Virginia Mine on Monday, where at least 31 suspected illegal miners lost their lives in a ventilation shaft near Welkom.

The illegal miners are believed to be Basotho nationals.

Due to the lethal amounts of methane underground, only three bodies have been brought to the surface by other miners thus far.

Mantashe’s visit comes after the department received communication from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Relations in Lesotho that a group of suspected illegal miners died in a mine ventilation shaft in May.

The shaft was last operational in the 1990s.

"We have no information or any indication of any South African involved in this expedition, but what we know is that there are mainly Lesotho citizens who are involved,” said Mantashe.

"If all those bodies are from Lesotho, it means that there is a responsibility equal to what we have as a responsibility that the Lesotho government has. They cannot come to us on the basis of 'we have bodies underground, please take them out'. That can't be the basis.

"The basis of our engagement with the Lesotho government should be 'there is a problem of a growing number of illegal miners, many of them come heavily armed' and therefore both governments must have a cooperation in dealing with that crisis as two governments because people move from Lesotho armed and end up here (in South Africa) underground with arms and from time to time we incur casualties in that process, and that is the discussion with the Lesotho government."

Mantashe said the department suspects that there are still more bodies underground because of the behaviour of methane on the surface, indicating that there is movement underground.

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