Police minister Senzo Mchunu visits the site where illegal miners are trapped underground in Khuma, Stilfontein, on November 16, 2024. (Photo by Elizabeth Sejake/Rapport/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
A total of 1 564 illegal miners have resurfaced at an abandoned mine in Stilfontein in the North West and eight bodies have been retrieved, but authorities cannot confirm how many more miners remain underground.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone told the Mail & Guardian that the miners have been resurfacing voluntarily from the Margaret Shaft, which is operational.
“There is a cage there, so once the security spots them underground, they go down and bring them up,” he said.
He said police have been told that there are still people at shaft number 10, but they cannot confirm how many.
According to Jessica Lawrence of Lawyers for Human Rights (LRH), the miners are “physically trapped” and cannot leave the mine without external help from above ground.
“It is incorrect to suggest that they are choosing to remain in these unbearable conditions. While there were initial reports of miners exiting the mine, those individuals used the Margaret Shaft, partially owned by Harmony Gold, which is entirely inaccessible from underground by those trapped at shafts 10 and 11 of the Buffelsfontein gold mine,” Lawrence said.
“The miners at shafts 10 and 11 are in an unimaginable situation. Shaft 11, where community-led rescue efforts were under way before being dismantled, is two kilometres deep. Pulling up a single miner using a manual rope pulley system takes at least 45 minutes — an almost impossible task on this scale,” she said.
“These miners are completely reliant on external intervention to exit the mine. Their lives depend on immediate action,” Lawrence said.
On 2 January, LHR filed an urgent application at the constitutional court on behalf of Mining Affected Communities United in Action. In that application, a representative of the organisation shared a letter from miners trapped underground.
It described an allegedly appalling situation.
“Most of the people are perishing at shaft 10, as they are forced to climb up at shaft 10 but they keep falling and dying and we can’t find their bodies,” the letter said.
“We see the food that is sent to us but nothing is changing. People continue to die. The problem is that we have been hungry for a long time. Even myself I’m losing strength.’
According to the letter, some of the miners were eating human flesh from the bodies of those who had died in shaft 10.
“We request food. We have run out of food. Please we are humbly begging, people are dying non-stop … we know that hunger is the reason we are dying,” it said.
Mokgwabone told the M&G that the South African Police Service is “not responsible for supplying all the food.”
“We are there because of the crime that is being committed that is illegal mining. Food has never been our arrangement from the beginning. We were there to make sure that whatever is being taken down is done in an orderly manner. We have never denied any food going down,” he said.
In December, the Pretoria high court granted an interim order to LHR to allow community members and charitable organisations to provide food, water and medication to the trapped illegal miners.
Lawrence added that after the court order, some food, water and humanitarian aid were lowered down to the trapped miners, but it was not enough.
“Unfortunately, the structure that anchored the community’s manual rope system — used both to deliver essential supplies and to rescue miners — was dismantled on 27 December 2024 during police operations on the ground. The situation is now absolutely dire, with lives hanging in the balance.”
Lawrence said they expect the constitutional court to grant the relief, in the form of humanitarian aid, food, water and medication to the miners trapped underground, and ensure the trapped miners are rescued without delay.
“As a society, we must not allow situations like this to occur again. It is unacceptable to stand by and watch as the government disregards the lives and dignity of people, regardless of their circumstances.”
Mokgwabone said all of the people who resurfaced had been arrested and charged with illegal mining, and in some instances, trespassing and contravention of the Immigration Act.
“We are continuing with our operations. Whoever resurfaces, gets arrested and gets processed and gets detained,” he added.
