STILFONTEIN, South Africa — The toll from an ongoing confrontation between law enforcement and miners who have been trapped while illegally excavating in an abandoned gold mine has tragically increased to a minimum of 87, as reported by police on Thursday. Authorities are under mounting scrutiny and may face an investigation due to their initial decision to refrain from assisting the miners, opting instead to “smoke them out” by withholding food supplies.
According to Athlenda Mathe, the national police spokesperson, a court-ordered rescue operation facilitated the recovery of 78 bodies, and 246 survivors were brought to safety from the depths of the mine since the operation commenced on Monday. Additionally, Mathe noted that before the rescue began, nine other bodies had been extricated, although details on those recoveries are scarce.
When authorities declared last year that they would not assist the hundreds of stranded miners, labeling them “criminals,” local community groups took it upon themselves to initiate rescue efforts. The miners are believed to have succumbed to starvation and dehydration, but official causes of death have not yet been disclosed.
The actions of South African authorities have faced severe criticism for their approach of cutting off food and essential supplies to the miners at Buffelsfontein Gold Mine last year. This method, termed “smoking them out” by a prominent government official, drew condemnation from one of the country’s largest trade unions. Allegations have also surfaced against police and mine owners for removing ropes and dismantling the pulley system that the miners utilized to access the mine and receive supplies.
In a significant move, a court mandated last year that authorities permit the delivery of food and water to the miners, while another recent court ruling prompted the start of a rescue mission. Concern over the grave situation underground was evident weeks ago, as community members intermittently retrieved decaying bodies from the mine, some bearing notes imploring for food assistance.
“If the police had acted earlier, we would not be in this situation, with bodies piling up,” expressed Johannes Qankase, a leader in the community. “It is a disgrace for a constitutional democracy like ours. Somebody needs to account for what has happened here.”
The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-largest political party and a member of the governing coalition, has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to initiate an independent inquiry to investigate how the situation became so dire. “The scale of the disaster underground at Buffelsfontein is rapidly proving to be as bad as feared,” the party stated.
Authorities now estimate that close to 2,000 miners were illegally operating in the mine near Stilfontein, situated southwest of Johannesburg, since August of the previous year. Many self-rescued in recent months, and all survivors have since been apprehended, although some emerged severely malnourished and struggling to reach awaiting ambulances.
Mortuary vans were dispatched to the mine to transport the deceased. Mathe mentioned that at least 13 children had also been brought out before the official rescue operation commenced. On Wednesday, police announced the termination of the operation after three days, asserting that they believed no additional individuals were still underground. To verify this, a camera was sent down Thursday in a cage originally used to extract survivors and bodies.
During the rescue effort, two volunteer community rescuers descended into the mine’s small cage, as officials refused to let any standard rescue personnel enter the shaft citing safety concerns. “It has been a tough few days; there were many people we saved, but I still feel bad for those whose family members came out in body bags,” commented Michael Charles, one of the volunteers. “We did all we could.” Police have indicated that the two volunteers will receive counseling for trauma.
The mine, one of the deepest in South Africa, consists of an intricate network of tunnels and shafts, with miners working as deep as 2.5 kilometers (approximately 1.5 miles) underground in various teams. Law enforcement maintains that the miners could have exited through multiple shafts but were deterred by fears of arrest. This claim has been contested by organizations representing the miners, asserting that hundreds were trapped in perilous conditions, surrounded by decomposing bodies.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu dismissed allegations of their responsibility for the miners’ starvation in an interview, defending the police’s actions by claiming they permitted food to be delivered. The earlier police approach focused on compelling miners to surrender for arrest, part of a broader operation against illegal mining known as Vala Umgodi, or Close the Hole. Illegal mining remains a critical issue in South Africa, where many groups venture into abandoned mines to extract residual resources.
South Africa, rich in gold, harbors an estimated 6,000 abandoned or closed mines. The illicit miners—referred to as “zama zamas,” which translates to “hustlers” or “chancers” in Zulu—are often armed and connected to criminal networks, with the government estimating that they cause over $1 billion in gold losses annually. Many of these miners are undocumented foreign nationals, predominantly hailing from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho, and identified as being in South Africa illegally.
Authorities reported seizing gold, explosives, firearms, and over $2 million in cash from the miners while defending their strict measures. “By providing food, water, and necessities to these illegal miners, it would be the police entertaining and allowing criminality to thrive,” Mathe asserted Wednesday. However, the South African Federation of Trade Unions has questioned the government’s ethics, highlighting its inhumanity in letting anyone, citizens or undocumented immigrants, die of starvation underground.
Despite the condemnation of the police’s actions by civic groups, the unfolding disaster hasn’t elicited a strong public outcry across South Africa, where the mostly foreign zama zamas have long been viewed with hostility due to the country’s existing struggles with high rates of violent crime.
