{"id":107829,"date":"2025-05-13T12:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T10:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi"},"modified":"2025-05-13T14:48:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T12:48:57","slug":"police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi","title":{"rendered":"Police name 20 Zimbos killed in SA\u2019s Operation Vala Umgodi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>HARARE, May 13 (Newsday Live) \u2013 Police have released the names of 20 Zimbabweans who died during the infamous Operation Vala Umgodi, a months-long standoff between South African authorities and illegal miners who were trapped underground at a disused mine in the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n<p>At least 78 people died &#8212; likely from starvation, according to human rights groups \u2013 in the operation which started last August and only ended in January.<\/p>\n<p>About 246 survivors, many of them appearing gaunt and emaciated, were rescued after security officials cut off food and other essential supplies to the miners for several weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, Zimbabwean police identified 20 of the people who died.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Zimbabwe Republic Police has received a request through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade from authorities in South Africa to assist in the location and identification of relatives of Zimbabweans who sadly perished in a mine during Operation Vala Umgodi recently,\u201d national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Zimbabwe Republic Police releases the names of the victims who died during the operation in South Africa. The bodies are yet to be claimed by the next of kin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They are Bothwell Mlambo (no next of kin), Bobo Sithole (Maggie Dziva), Gladman Mlambo (unknown next of kin), Blessing Mlambo (unknown), one Shepherd (unknown), Kenisa Majoni (Shadhi Maji, brother), Benard Mamombe (unknown), Trust Makitisa (Meshack Ziyaduma and Lazarus Ziyaduma), Jairosi Pasa (Simon Maronga, Enes Mahachi and Kenas Pasi) and Moses Chidumba (unknown).<\/p>\n<p>There is also Thomas Chipanza (unknown), Jack Mlambo Maeza (Joseph Mlambo), Edzai Mlambo Maeza (unknown), Make Mlambo (Kenas Mlambo), Pindirai Dumbarimwe (Kenas Mlambo), Tendai Mubaiba (unknown), Mebishengs Mutubuki (unknown), Tinashe Shangure (unknown), Tafadzwa Ndlovu (unknown) and Justice Mwapinda (unknown).<\/p>\n<p>Added Nyathi: \u201cSome of the victims\u2019 full particulars are yet to be obtained but concrete information indicates that these are Zimbabweans. The cooperation of relatives will assist in the identification of the victims and repatriation of the bodies for burial in Zimbabwe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He urged relatives of friends of the deceased to contact the police National Complaints Desk Number on (0242) 703631 or WhatsApp on 0712 800197 or report at any nearest police station.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Vala Umgodi started in August and over the course of the siege, 1 907 miners resurfaced, while 87 bodies were retrieved.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the survivors were foreign nationals, including 1 125 Mozambicans and 465 Zimbabweans, with only 26 being South Africans, according to the police.<\/p>\n<p>The survivors were arrested and charged with illegal immigration, trespass, illegal mining and other offences.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators faced \u201ca mammoth task\u201d in identifying the dead as some of the bodies were already decomposing, and in some cases just bones, the South African police said in January this year.<\/p>\n<p>The General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (Giwusa) condemned the police operation, describing it as \u201cthe dehumanisation and criminalisation of these poor, desperate miners\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a bloody culmination of treacherous policies pursued by the government. This was a campaign of lies,\u201d its president Mametlwe Sebei told reporters early this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. HARARE, May 13 (Newsday Live) \u2013 Police have released the names of 20 Zimbabweans who died during the infamous Operation Vala Umgodi, a months-long standoff between South African authorities and illegal miners who were trapped underground at a disused mine in the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg. At least 78 people [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":107828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-107829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Police name 20 Zimbos killed in SA\u2019s Operation Vala Umgodi - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"HARARE, May 13 (Newsday Live) \u2013 Police have released the names of 20 Zimbabweans who died during the infamous Operation ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Police name 20 Zimbos killed in SA\u2019s Operation Vala Umgodi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HARARE, May 13 (Newsday Live) \u2013 Police have released the names of 20 Zimbabweans who died during the infamous Operation ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-13T10:26:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-13T12:48:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/05\/sm_1747127952.861173.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Police name 20 Zimbos killed in SA\u2019s Operation Vala Umgodi\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-13T10:26:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-13T12:48:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi\"},\"wordCount\":507,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/05\/sm_1747127952.861173.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/police-name-20-zimbos-killed-in-sas-operation-vala-umgodi\",\"name\":\"Police name 20 Zimbos killed in SA\u2019s Operation Vala Umgodi - 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