South Africa’s government says it will not help a group of illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country’s North West Province who have been denied access to basic supplies as part of an official strategy against illegal mining.
The workers in the mineshaft in Stilfontein are believed to be facing a lack of food, water and other basic necessities after police closed off the entrances used to transport their supplies underground.
It is part of the police’s “vala umgodi (“close the hole”) operation, which includes cutting off miners’ supplies to force them to return to the surface and be arrested.
Photo: AP
Police had earlier indicated that information received from those who recently helped bring three miners to the surface indicated that up to 4,000 workers might be underground.
However, on Thursday afternoon, police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe said that they believed the number was exaggerated and might be far fewer than that, estimating a figure of 350 to 400 miners.
“We feel that the numbers are being exaggerated. We have deployed maximum resources to this case including our intelligence operative who are on the ground who have engaged with all stakeholders,” Mathe said. “We have managed to estimate the numbers to be between 350 and 400.”
South African ministers of police and defense were expected to visit the mine to engage with officials and community members on the ground, she said.
Stilfontein is one of the mines that were targeted by police as they intensified their operation in North West from Oct. 18.
It was unclear how long the current group of miners have been underground, as the groups are reported to often stay underground for months, depending on supplies of basic necessities like food and water from the outside.
“We have taken a decision that no police officer, no soldier or government official will go down to an abandoned mine. There is a high risk of loss of life,” Mathe said.
Mathe said they had information that the miners might be heavily armed, adding that since embarking on operations against illegal miners since December last year, police had seized more than 369 high-caliber firearms, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 5 million rand (US$275,000) in cash and 32 million rand of uncut diamonds.
In the past few weeks, more than 1,000 miners have surfaced at mines in North West, with many reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.
Police on Thursday continued to guard areas around the mine to catch all those appearing from underground.
Cabinet Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, because they are involved in a criminal act.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped. We didn’t send them there,” Ntshavheni said.
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