The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) expresses its deep concern and unequivocal condemnation of the terror and insecurity currently facing residents of the Randfontein/Springs area, where hundreds of working-class families have reportedly been forced to flee their homes and seek shelter in community halls due to violence and intimidation linked to illegal mining activities.
No community in a democratic South Africa should live in fear.
No parent and child should be displaced from their home because criminals have taken control of their neighbourhood.
We stand in full solidarity with the affected residents.
Whether the perpetrators are Zama zamas, gangs, or organised criminal syndicates, the principle is simple:
Crime is crime.
Terrorising communities is unacceptable.
The police must act urgently and decisively.
The state has a constitutional obligation to protect the lives and safety of our people. That duty cannot be outsourced or ignored.
Crime Must Be Confronted, but Scapegoating Is Not a Solution
SAFTU rejects two equally dangerous positions:
1. Defending or excusing criminality
2. Blaming migrants or “foreigners” for systemic state failures
We will do neither.
We do not defend illegal armed groups or lawlessness of any kind.
But we also refuse the lazy, divisive, and xenophobic narrative that seeks to blame poor and desperate people instead of confronting the real roots of the crisis.
Turning this into a nationality issue is a political distraction that divides the working class while protecting those truly responsible.
This Crisis Is the Result of State and Corporate Failure
Illegal mining and criminal syndicates did not emerge in a vacuum.
They are the direct consequence of:
• Abandoned and unrehabilitated mines left by corporations
• Mining companies extracting profits and walking away from communities
• Collapsed policing and intelligence capacity
• Weak border and customs enforcement
• Corruption within law-enforcement structures
• Mass unemployment, poverty, and social desperation
• The absence of an industrial and jobs strategy for mining communities
When the state fails to regulate mining and create jobs, criminal networks step in.
Blaming migrants or NGOs will not fix this reality.
Only governance, regulation, and development will.
SAFTU calls for:
Immediate actions
-Deployment of adequate policing and intelligence to protect communities
– Arrest and prosecution of criminal syndicates and kingpins, not only foot soldiers
– Securing and sealing abandoned mine shafts
– Emergency humanitarian support for displaced families
Structural solutions
– Accountability for mining houses that abandoned mines without rehabilitation
– A national plan to formalise and regulate small-scale and artisanal mining
– Job creation and industrial development in mining communities
– Rooting out corruption in SAPS and local government
– Zero tolerance for xenophobic scapegoating and violence
Our Position Is Clear
SAFTU stands for:
- Safe communities
- Law and order
- Corporate accountability
- Jobs and development
- Unity of the working class, South African and migrant alike
Working people must never be divided while criminals, corporations, and corrupt officials escape accountability.
Real patriotism means fixing the system that failed the people of Randfontein, not attacking the poor.
Issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
0661682157
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564
