STILFONTEIN, South Africa — The toll from a prolonged standoff between law enforcement and miners trapped in an abandoned gold mine has tragically reached at least 87 deaths, as reported by police on Thursday. Authorities are now facing increased criticism and the possibility of an investigation due to their earlier decision to not assist the miners, but rather to “smoke them out” by cutting off their food supplies.
According to national police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, a total of 78 bodies were recovered during a court-ordered rescue operation that commenced on Monday, with 246 survivors also lifted from deep underground. Prior to this operation, nine additional bodies had been found, though specifics surrounding these discoveries remain undisclosed.
Frustrated community groups had initiated their own rescue efforts when officials in the previous year declared they would not help the hundreds of miners, labeling them as “criminals.” Suspected causes of death include starvation and dehydration, though official comments regarding the cause have yet to be released.
The South African state has come under fire for its controversial strategy of withholding food and supplies from the miners located at the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine. This tactic, referred to as “smoking them out” by a high-ranking government official, has drawn condemnation from one of the country’s leading labor unions. Additionally, accusations have surfaced that police and mine operators removed ropes and dismantled a pulley system that the miners relied on to access the mine and receive supplies from the surface.
Following public outcry, a court had previously mandated that authorities allow the miners to receive food and water, and a subsequent ruling last week compelled the initiation of a rescue mission. Many had expressed concerns about the deteriorating situation, as community volunteers had sporadically extracted decomposed bodies from the mine, some even attached notes pleading for food.
“If the police had acted sooner, we wouldn’t be faced with such a grim reality, with bodies piling up,” lamented Johannes Qankase, a local community leader. “It’s a disgrace in a constitutional democracy like ours. Accountability is necessary for everything that has transpired.”
The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second largest political party and part of the ruling coalition, has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to authorize an independent investigation to determine how the situation spiraled out of control. The party stated, “The scale of the disaster underground at Buffelsfontein is turning out to be as catastrophic as feared.”
Authorities now allege that around 2,000 miners were involved in illegal work at the mine near Stilfontein, located southwest of Johannesburg, since August of the previous year. Most miners had managed to return to the surface on their own in recent months, with all survivors now under arrest, despite some emerging this week in a severely weakened state and barely able to walk.
A fleet of mortuary vans has arrived at the scene to transport the deceased. Mathe reported that at least 13 children also emerged from the mine before the officially sanctioned rescue operation began. On Wednesday, police declared the operation concluded after three days, asserting that they believed no one else remained underground. To confirm this, a camera was sent down Thursday in a cage previously used to recover survivors and bodies.
During the rescue operation, two community volunteers had entered the small cage to assist the miners because authorities had denied permission for any official rescue personnel to enter the mine due to safety concerns. Mandla Charles, one of the volunteer rescuers, noted, “It has been a tough few days; although we saved many, my heart still aches for those whose loved ones were recovered in body bags. We did everything we could.” Both volunteers are now receiving trauma counseling from the police.
The Buffelsfontein mine is one of the deepest in the country, featuring a complex network of tunnels and multiple shafts that extend up to 2.5 kilometers (approximately 1.5 miles) underground. Police insist that miners could have exited through various shafts but remained reluctant to do so due to fear of arrest. However, this claim is contested by miners’ advocate groups, who argue that the miners were left trapped and starving in darkness and damp conditions, surrounded by decomposing bodies.
In an interview with a national television outlet, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu denied any involvement in contributing to the miners’ starvation, asserting that they permitted food to be distributed. The initial police action was part of a broader crackdown on illegal mining, named Vala Umgodi, or “Close the Hole.” The problem of illegal mining remains prevalent in South Africa, where large groups of individuals venture into abandoned mines to extract residual ores.
South Africa, rich in gold, is estimated to have around 6,000 abandoned mines. The illegal miners, often referred to as “zama zamas,” meaning “hustlers” or “chancers” in Zulu, are typically armed and connected to criminal organizations. The government claims that these miners annually deplete the country of over $1 billion in gold deposits, and many of those who surfaced from Buffelsfontein were undocumented migrants from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho.
Authorities reported the seizure of gold, explosives, firearms, and more than $2 million in cash from the miners and have stood firm in their tough approach. “Providing food, water, and essentials to these illegal miners would be tantamount to encouraging criminal activity,” stated Mathe recently.
While the police’s operation has faced scrutiny from civil organizations, the tragedy has not sparked extensive public outrage across South Africa, where the often foreign zama zamas are frequently viewed as unwelcome residents in a nation already grappling with high levels of violent crime.
