THE government has been cautioned that Gauteng is sitting on a ticking time bomb before the country sees an incident that will shock the world.
Former Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba says the government needs to deal with illegal mining before Gauteng bursts.
Mashaba’s warning follows an underground gas explosion that ripped through the streets of Joburg CBD last week.
One person died and dozens were injured as a result of the incident.
Although the cause of the explosion is still unclear, according to Mashaba, illegal mining could be one of the reasons behind the explosion.
He said illegal miners were using explosives in an irresponsible manner, which was dangerous to petrol and gas pipelines travelling across the province.
Mashaba, now the leader of Action SA, added that he had warned the government about this while he was still the mayor of Johannesburg and his warning had fallen on deaf ears.
“I have received complaints from Transnet and Sasol for my intervention. That was the time when I was busy with inner-city rejuvenation, exposing the rot and complaining about illegal mining. The two companies wrote to me about the illegal mining that has been operating around Johannesburg,” said Mashaba.
He said the two companies also warned that South Africa would see something that the world had never seen should the matter be left unattended.
Mashaba said this would not just destroy Johannesburg but the whole of Gauteng, warning that the illegal miners were destroying big pipes that run through various parts of the city.
“They were saying they need my intervention because they are not getting any hearing or political will from the national government. I brought this to the attention of the Cogta (Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs) Minister and the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy (MRE).
“Unfortunately, even up to today, I have not even received acknowledgement of my letters. Even though I brought this (up) including with officials from Transnet and Sasol, with their experts as well. We went to the site in Krugersdorp together and we spent the day there. Even the media was there and we thought something would be done. Unfortunately, nothing has happened,” said Mashaba.
He said he was not surprised when the incident in Johannesburg happened, adding that “we are lucky that we did not have too many casualties”.
“But one thing for sure is that Gauteng is sitting on a time bomb. One day the country will see an incident that will shock the world if we don’t do anything about this.”
Mashaba added that he was surprised that the government had not been able to identify the cause of the explosion in Johannesburg. He said this showed cadre deployment to be a curse to the nation.
Asked to confirm if the letters were received and why they did not respond, Cogta spokesperson Legadima Leso referred questions to Cogta in Gauteng. However, spokesperson Lupi Nqcayisa did not respond.
DMRE spokesperson Natie Shabangu acknowledged the questions but did not respond.
In his letter, dated November 28, 2018, Mashaba asked former minister Mosebenzi Zwane to provide measures and interventions to avert a pending disaster. He said a proper investigation was needed into the matter.
He also wrote to the current Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe requesting his support and intervention concerning illegal mining through the use of explosives near highways, Transnet bulk fuel supply and Sasol gas pipelines travelling across the city.
The letters were also sent to Cogta.
In its statement following the incident, the MRE department said there were no old mines in the area in which the explosion occurred.
The department said it was confident that investigations led by the relevant authorities, including the Gauteng provincial government and the City of Johannesburg, would be able to ascertain the actual cause of the tragedy.
The City of Johannesburg said it was compiling a report to the Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) through the Disaster Management Centre to commence the legislated processes to declare the explosion a local state of disaster.
“The declaration of the disaster is critical to allow us to assess the impact of the explosion on infrastructure and to cost the rehabilitation work required; to classify the disaster accordingly in line with the act and to declare the disaster accordingly once the outlined processes have been concluded.
“We have mandated the Disaster Management Centre to commence with the processes and to finalise a report for submission to the PDMC within the next seven days.”