NW Community Safety MEC again under fire as Stilfontein rescue operation stalls

STILFONTEIN - MEC for Community Safety in North-West Wessels Morweng has again come under fire as a rescue operation to retrieve hundreds of illegal miners from an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein stalls.

More than three weeks ago, Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu appointed Morweng to lead a task team to drive the complex and costly operation that would see mine rescue experts bring illegal miners back to the surface.

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However, safety concerns and a tight budget have led to the third and final phase of the plan taking longer than expected to get underway.

Cracks in the task team were laid bare last week when some community leaders criticised Morweng for a lack of transparency, accusing him of leaving them in the dark.

Provincial spokesperson for the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) Mzukisi Jam said Morweng is partly to blame for the slow pace of retrieving the illegal miners.

“We made a request that perhaps we must consider changing the chairperson of the task team, which is currently the MEC, on the basis that he doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. He has no sense of urgency. He doesn’t take any of what is happening seriously.”