Explosives in Peak Timbers. A river clouded by mining. Allegations of mercury, cross-border networks and official complicity. Eswatini’s illegal-mining crisis is no longer a story about people digging abandoned shafts. It is a test of whether the state can protect public water, control explosives and dismantle the business financing the pits.
By News Correspondent
MBABANE — The warning arrived from Peak Timbers forest: four SuperPower emulsion cartridges, a commercial detonator and detonating cord found in a shack during a police patrol on September 4. Preliminary investigations linked the cache to illegal mining in northern Hhohho.
Then came the water alarm. The Phophonyane River, serving Pigg’s Peak and surrounding communities, is reportedly being affected by mining. The Eswatini Environment Authority says an inspection found deteriorating water quality and high turbidity. Local reports allege that miners are using mercury to process gold and washing equipment in or near the river.
Turbidity does not prove mercury contamination. No public laboratory results have established the mercury concentration. That is precisely why authorities must test the river, publish the results and keep testing. Communities should not have to guess whether their water is safe.
The crisis is moving up the chain
Mercury has reportedly been entering an illicit supply market linked to gold mining. The metal binds to gold, but it also threatens soil, water and the food chain. The World Health Organization warns that artisanal gold mining is a major source of mercury pollution, with serious risks to the nervous system, kidneys, children and unborn babies. Eswatini has been party to the Minamata Convention since 2016.
Explosives raise the stakes again. Fire can fracture rock; commercial explosives can open a shaft quickly and kill people nearby. Every cartridge and detonator should be traced through manufacture, importation, purchase and distribution. Who bought them? Who transported them? Who paid?
In June, two Botswana nationals were arrested in Mbabane and charged with allegedly possessing explosive-related material without authorisation. Prosecutors said police were investigating robberies in northern Hhohho in which explosives were allegedly used. There is no established evidence connecting that case to Peak Timbers. The repeated appearances of explosive material still demand an intelligence-led supply-chain investigation.
From desperate digging to organised business
Police operations around the old Pigg’s Peak mine seized equipment and mineral-bearing soil, including about 130 bags recovered near Phophonyane in March. Investigations have described organised access to shafts, specialist equipment and links involving people from several Southern African countries.
That does not make every foreign national a criminal, or every informal miner part of a syndicate. But recruiters, financiers, mercury suppliers, transporters, cross-border buyers, armed protection and explosives describe a supply chain. Arresting miners at the bottom of it will not stop the money at the top.
Raids have displaced activity from one site to another. They have not removed the profit. The state needs coordinated policing, customs intelligence, financial investigations and secure abandoned mines. It also needs a lawful livelihood policy for people driven into dangerous work by unemployment.
Security and corruption questions
Illegal mining now touches water security, border control, tax loss and public safety. Reports of firearms, cross-border movement and an illegal mercury trade show why the issue belongs on the national-security agenda. A smaller country can contain a network early, but only if agencies share intelligence before it becomes entrenched.
Police Commissioner Vusi Manoma Masango has acknowledged allegations that officers may benefit from illegal mining and promised action where evidence exists. An allegation is not proof. It does, however, justify an independent investigation that follows money, licences, explosives and mineral buyers as closely as it follows miners.
- Independently test Phophonyane and publish mercury and heavy-metal results.
- Map mining sites against drinking-water sources and secure abandoned workings.
- Trace every recovered explosive and investigate financiers, suppliers and buyers.
Water changes everything
Governments can recover minerals and seal shafts. They cannot easily reverse contamination once it reaches a community water source. Phophonyane should be the turning point: publish a baseline, repeat the tests and tell residents what the results mean.
This is no longer a hole-in-the-ground problem
Explosives, mercury, mobile crews, foreign-linked suspects, seized mineral soil and allegations of corruption are connected by one question: who is making money, and who is paying the environmental and public-health bill?
Eswatini still has time to act. But the answer cannot be another raid that sends miners to the next forest. It must be a coordinated effort to test the water, secure the explosives, follow the money and dismantle the business behind the digging.