Official communiqués have reduced the Stilfontein dead and emaciated to children of a lesser God, as if the State's representatives neither know nor care that the Buffelsfontein mine was built on the sweat of migrant workers, many from neighbouring countries.

One of our national anthems is Stimela, Hugh Masekela's haunting tribute to the migrant labourers who came from across southern Africa, from Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi, and elsewhere, to dig the gold and coal on which modern South Africa is built.

Bra Hugh's trumpet, his words, sing the searing story of migrant labour, and our interconnectedness to the region is apparent in every word and every blast of that trumpet. Andries Bezuidenhout writes that the song should be the workers' anthem, telling in its story an essential part of our history.

Today, the song tells of our present, too, and of how a government desperate to deal with powerful illegal mining networks, which, according to the industry, cost South Africa R70-billion a year in lost investments and assets, is also forgetting that history.

As private mine rescuers brought up the Stilfontein miners, alive (216) and dead (78) by the end of 15 January on the third day of a 10-day operation, this is how the police identified the miners: "216 are alive illegal miners. 78 are deceased."

A day earlier, the cops said in a statement: "On day...