Central SA
Five Kimberley mine workers presumed to be dead─── ZENANDE MPAME 16:47 Fri, 20 Feb 2026
The five Ekapa mineworkers in Kimberley who have been trapped underground for days have now been presumed dead.
Minister of mineral and petroleum resources Gwede Mantashe will be visiting the families of the affected mineworkers soon. He visited the mine on Friday (20/2) and said teams were having difficulty retrieving the bodies.
The five workers have been trapped 890m underground in Tunnel 6 since Tuesday (17/2), following a mudslide. Rescue teams have been trying to locate the trapped mineworkers, citing large amounts of water disturbing operations.
Rescue teams say rising water levels and difficult drilling conditions are making their mission near-impossible.
“We hope that we can find those bodies rather than keeping hope that they are alive,” said Mantashe. “What’s more important today is we will be briefing the families in detail so that they don’t hold on to a false hope.
“If you are away from Tuesday to Friday in a mud rush as a mine worker, I can tell you that I would easily do what I call presumption of death and assume that they are dead.
“De Beers mustn’t pretend to be clean on this disaster because it’s their old shafts. They handed over the disaster to smaller operators, and those smaller operators take those assets at a discounted price, but the actual cost is on the responsibility that goes with it, including rehabilitation,” he said.
Mantashe called on the chief investigator of mines to launch an investigation to detect the source of the water once the bodies have been retrieved. Residents of Kimberley held a candlelight vigil outside the premises of the mine on Thursday evening to support the affected families.
The Sol Plaatje municipality called for a display of solidarity amid the mud rush incident at the mine, and has urged the Kimberley community and the country at large to hold the trapped five mineworkers in prayers and thoughts.
Meanwhile, Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi expressed deep concern about the loss of communication and said, “It raises fears the miners could either be sheltering somewhere underground, or that the worst may have occurred.”
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