Stilfontein Mine | Concerns mount over slow rescue efforts

Community organisations assisting illegal miners in Stilfontein have expressed concerns over the slow pace of rescue efforts.

Despite Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s pledge to rescue the trapped miners as soon as possible, community members claim they have been left to carry the bulk of the rescue work.

According to the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) and the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA), the miners are trapped with their only escape route being a 2km shaft hole.

Community members are reportedly having to hoist them out one by one, with only about four miners able to be brought to the surface daily. 

With hundreds more reportedly underground, unionist and lawyer for Human Rights attorney, Mametlwe Sebei, has warned that at this rate, the miners will likely remain trapped for weeks.

“It will take days and weeks to pull out those people, and if you use community rescue, meaning a manual pull through a rope and it will take us weeks,” he said. 

“The only people who volunteered to go underground are actually community members who are the families of the miners….The police came to the shaft and simply chased away the people,” he added. 

The situation is further complicated by allegations that some of the limited food supply earlier sent down the mine shaft is being controlled by a group of armed Basotho nationals.

The police, however, maintain that the miners are not trapped but rather refusing to resurface for fear of arrest.

Since August 18, over 1 200 miners have emerged from various shafts. 

The removal was prompted by Operation Vala Umgodi, a police crackdown in the North West. 

In mid-October, authorities escalated their efforts by limiting essential supplies, including food, water, and other necessities, to the illegal miners.

MACUA has meanwhile welcomed the Pretoria High Court’s interim relief order issued on Sunday, which allows food, water, and medication to be supplied to the illegal miners. 

The order was granted following an application by the Lawyers for Human Rights. 

The matter is set to return to court on Thursday for a full hearing, with the Lawyers for Human Rights seeking permanent relief for the affected miners.