Illegal miner killed in shootout buried

THIRTEEN days after the underground shooting at Aurora Empowerment Systems' Grootvlei mine in Springs, Ekurhuleni, police have not arrested anyone and are refusing to comment on investigations.

Survivors maintain that there are more bodies underground.

On Saturday the family of Stanley Chitokwana gathered at 2 and 3 near Kagiso on the West Rand to burry him.

Chitokwan , 26, was the first of the four illegal miners allegedly shot by security guards to be buried.

The emotional service was short as his wife Ronica Khoriyo cried uncontrollably.

Survivor Moeketsi Sedikane said when the shooting started they lost their headlights running for cover.

"After the shooting we went to took for the headlights and saw many bodies."

Mathibela Mtholeng said: "We thought they were using rubber bullets and we tried to save some people but found out that they were already dead."

Another survivor, who wanted to be known only as Norman, said he did not see anyone else leave the mine since he was hiding in a pipe close to the exit when the shooting started.

Norman said the police took him to the mine on Monday to look for more bodies but he was not allowed to go into the shaft he and other men believed the bodies were thrown into.

"They went down without me and came back and said there was nothing," he said.

Meanwhile, the police have refused to answer most questions sent by Sowetan.

Spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kweza said she was not going to answer some of the questions because they formed part of the investigation.

"We have a court case to prepare and we will not investigate with journalist on our neck."

Here are the questions sent to Kweza on Thursday:

1. People who were on the scene, some of whom are survivors, still claim that more than 20 were killed there. Have the police checked this?

2. Survivors say they saw security personnel carrying bodies out of the mine the same day of the shooting and a day after. Have the police checked and verified this?

3. Mine security officers have been quoted in the media as saying that they were shot at by illegal miners. They said those shot were armed and there was a shootout.

(a) Have guns belonging to the illegal miners been confiscated by security personnel and handed over to the police?

(b) Did the police find any weapons on the scene?

(c) If weapons were found or handed over to police, what type of weapons were they?

4. How are the investigations into the killing in the mine going?

5. Has any member of the security company involved in the killing been arrested or questioned?

6. Mine owners claimed that they are at war with the illegal miners. They have claimed that their cars have been shot at. Do you have these incidents reported?

6. Have postmortems been done on the four bodies recovered. What are the results and when will they be released?