Mafefe residents demand action over asbestos health risks

Residents of Mafefe village, outside Lebowakgomo, say they continue to face persistent health challenges due to exposure to asbestos residue .

The mineral from unrehabilitated mines in the nearby mountains gets washed into rivers when it rains.

The mountains in the area once hosted some of the country’s asbestos mines.

The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has sent a team to investigate and will respond once they have concluded.

HEALTH | A recent asbestos-related death has renewed concerns about the health risks facing residents of Mafefe, Limpopo, where communities have lived with contamination from abandoned mine sites for decades. pic.twitter.com/CJYMMf1qJF — SABC News (@SABCNews) August 19, 2026 Residents have called on the government to rehabilitate the mines.

“What we are asking government is to bring back that rehabilitation company to come and help us close up all the asbestos.

That is what we are asking because when it comes to water, they can help us with a borehole, but I don’t know how they can help us with air pollution.

A company came to rehabilitate; they brought soil to cover asbestos.

When it rains, soil corrosion takes place.

It takes asbestos stones into the rivers.” Meanwhile, CEO of Naledzi Environmental Consultants, Dr Khangwelo Musetsho, says the area should undergo rehabilitation as asbestos deposits stay in the environment for a long time.

“The issue of asbestos is a serious one from an environmental point of view, mostly because its residues will remain in the environment for quite a long time, and those that contract it would have it; let’s say 30 to 60 signs will only show after 60 years or so.

So this illness called asbestosis is quite a killer.

These asbestos is normally found in rocks in this village called Mafefe.” -Reporting by Avhapfani Munyai VIDEO | Mafefe residents call for government to rehabilitate old asbestos mines: