By: Abigail Visagie

Rape, robberies, murder and drownings are just some of the heinous crimes and unfortunate incidents that take place regularly at the Witherow Dam Quarry, now scaringly referred to as the Quarry of Death or Die Dynamite Gat (The Dynamite Pit) by locals.

Located in the heart of Heidedal, Bloemfontein, this abandoned dangerous quarry has claimed many a life for decades and continues to be a painstaking environmental hazard which doubles as a crime hotspot. Several families have lost their loved ones to Quarry of Death over the years, with little to no concrete interventions from authorities.

To date, the Quarry of Death has claimed around 49 lives giving rise to calls for it to be totally closed from various pressure groups and locals – including the several bereaved families.

Despite these appeals, petitions and several news reports, Journal News discovered this week that the Quarry of Death remains unfenced and unrehabilitated. This further suggests that the licensing agreements and rehabilitation requirements have been inadequately enforced or simply ignored by the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM).

The growing list of victims includes Reginald Manie Ruiters, who drowned after swimming too deep into the quarry’s waters. According to his mother, Brenda Ruiters, the young Reginald went for a swim with his friends to the quarry on 14 February 2021 and never made it back home. “I still remember the day vividly…when his close friend came to report his drowning,” Ruiters recalls.

“He told me that Reginald was swimming with other younger children with whom he was competing. Unfortunately, he went too deep where he could not be reached and failed to return,” she detailed.

Following this tragic incident, Ruiters has also joined widespread calls for the quarry to be properly fenced and secured.

“The fight to get the quarry closed has not yielded any results. Our pleas seem to be falling on deaf ears.

“Every time I think of him, hear his name or even call out to him sometimes, my heart breaks more and more. Something as special as Valentine’s Day has become a day filled with grief for me because I’m reminded that I lost my son (sic),” she told Journal News in an exclusive interview.

The Finnis family, on the other hand, are still reeling from the trauma of their son being attacked and almost got killed while passing the quarry back in 2014. Sebastian Finnis was shot at and wounded at the quarry, leaving him permanently handicapped.

“My son was attacked and shot at by an unknown gunman at the quarry. As a result, Sebastian has since been declared handicapped,” says Maggie Finnis, the victim’s mother.

She also demands that the Quarry of Death be fenced to limit undue access to the public.

“All I want is to see the area barricaded so that no child or family will go through what I am going through,” Finnis added.

The community of Heidedal, in collaboration with the local Neighbourhood Watch, held a memorial service last month (June 2025) in remembrance of those who lost their lives at the Quarry of Death.

Basie Kok, a community leader and member of the local neighborhood watch, revealed to Journal News that the Witherow Dam quarry was abandoned in the 1970s after mining operations hit an underground water source, thus leaving behind a massive, water-filled pit.

Since then, the quarry has claimed several lives, many of those being the lives of children.

“Forty-nine families are suffering,” Kok laments.

“Winter is the worst because we have to stand here and watch as mothers cry for their children.”

When asked for comment regarding the criminal activities taking place at the abandoned quarry, police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thabo Covane told Journal News that the quarry’s private ownership status barred the SAPS from actively intervening despite their public safety mandate.

“Although SAPS mandate is to ensure the safety of civilians, there is not much that can be done about the quarry since it is private property”.

The most recent attempt to have the quarry secured came in the form of a petition initiated by community activist Gregory Werner to the South African Parliament in March this year. He too confirms that despite years of pleas for intervention, the quarry remains a persistent danger to residents, particularly children, due to its perilous waters and lack of adequate safety measures.

“The absence of secure fencing, warning signs, or regular patrols has turned the quarry into a death trap, particularly for children. We are asking parliament to enforce the rehabilitation of the quarry site as per original licensing conditions, including safely managing the water body, and hold all responsible parties, past and present, accountable for compliance,” says Werner.

This was not Werner’s first appeal for intervention. His Werner’s attempt which came in the form of a letter to the Department of Water and Sanitation back in 2016 fell on deaf ears.

Journal News is in possession of two letters clearly signed in 2016 by former Free State Head of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Dr. Tseliso Ntili. One of the letters was in response to Werner’s plea, while the other was directed to MMM.

According to Dr. Ntili’s first letter, an inspection was conducted on 1 April 2016. An excerpt from the letter reads:

“…the findings of our inspections revealed that there are some safety aspects of the quarry that need to be attended to (sic).”

Meanwhile, in the letter to MMM which was signed on 12 September 2016, Dr. Ntili detailed that a notice was indeed sent to the owner of the land requesting that a perimeter fence be installed around the quarry.

It reads: “This letter serves to inform you, as the City Manager, of the outcome of the DWS investigation and request that you play your role in protecting the interest of the community and the water resources (sic).”

All attempts to get a comment from Mangaung Metro Municipality proved futile.