20100813
reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African police found four bullet-riddled bodies in an unused shaft of a mine belonging to relatives of Nelson Mandela and President Jacob Zuma, an officer said on Thursday.

Police told reporters they believed the men were illegally prospecting for gold in abandoned shafts at the Grootvlei mine outside Johannesburg.

"We can confirm that four bodies were recovered from underground at the mine and we are still trying to retrieve more, but we cannot say how many are still under," Colonel Noxolo Kweza told the SAPA news agency.

Media reports speculated that as many as 20 illegal miners could have been shot by security guards patrolling the property earlier this week.

Mine officials were not immediately available for comment.

Mandela's grandson Zondwa Mandela is the managing director of Aurora Empowerment Systems, which owns the mine, and Zuma's nephew Khulubuse is a director of the company.

Over the past seven months, workers there have complained of poor living conditions, withheld pay, and no water and electricity.

Zuma's ruling African National Congress condemned shooting.

"The management and the responsible security company should have sought the assistance of the South African police on suspicion of crime being committed in their mine, rather than shooting at first instance," it said in a statement.

Illegal mining in the world's fourth-largest gold producer is rife. Many migrants from African states are ready to risk their lives to prospect for gold deposits in abandoned, and sometimes, unsafe mines.