South Africa Detains About 1,000 Illegal Miners in Mpumalanga Raid

South African police have arrested about 1,000 undocumented miners who had been working illegally at the Sheba gold mine near Barberton in Mpumalanga, according to provincial spokesperson Donald Mdhluli. The week-long sweep, conducted jointly with mine security under Operation Vala Umgodi, began on Monday and is continuing. Officers surrounded the mine to block food and other supplies, forcing miners—locally known as zama-zamas—to surface before detaining them. Mdhluli said no fatalities have been recorded and warned that the tally could rise because “there are still illegal miners underground.” The National Union of Mineworkers accused the mine’s owners of overlooking the infiltration, noting the operation exposed an extensive clandestine network extracting high-grade ore. The arrests follow a separate crackdown last year in Stilfontein, where 90 illegal miners died, underscoring the government’s attempt to curb illicit mining that threatens safety, revenues and community stability.