What is presented as a rescue operation was carried out on Monday January 13 to get the miners out of this abandoned gold mine located near Stilfontein, about 140 km southwest of Johannesburg. And the search to possibly find dozens of other minors resumed this Tuesday, January 14. 26 illegal miners have been rescued and at least nine bodies hauled to the surface of an abandoned gold mine in South Africa, Johannes Qankase, a community leader, told Agence France Presse.
Most of the people were taken to hospital and two were reportedly taken into custody, Johannes Qankase said. “They are very sick and very dehydrated. We can see it, they are almost dying”he said of those rescued. In addition, local sources told AFP that there would remain more than 100 bodies underground. Six bodies were brought out of the mine in early December 2024, and one in November.
Forced to eat corpses, cockroaches, toothpaste
In recent weeks, miners who have emerged from the shaft have reported acute hunger and dehydration underground. Some were arrested for not having the official documents allowing them to be in the country. Thousands of illegal miners, often from other countries and called “zama zamas” (“those who try” in Zulu), are believed to be working in abandoned mine shafts across mineral-rich South Africa. Many come from neighboring countries like Lesotho or Mozambique, according to the media BBC News Africa.
For months, supplies of food, water and medicine had been reduced by the authorities, with the aim of forcing them to leave, access to this mine being sealed off as part of a police operation, according to the british daily The Guardian.
A miner Clement Moeletsi, who was pulled out by locals using ropes on December 9, said that in September the miners ate cockroaches and toothpaste mixed with salt. Two other miners said some people ended up eating corpses, continues The Guardian. “This is what my former colleagues were reduced to, desperately trying to survive”one of the workers told the South African justice and media Daily Maverick et News24reports France culture.
Embattled miners working in the dark
Residents of the region had begged the authorities to help the miners, but they refused, the media explained. BBC Africa. “We’re going to smoke them out. They will come out. We will not send aid to criminals. Criminals should not be helped, they should be persecuted”declared the Minister Delegate to the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, in mid-November, in response to a question from a journalist who asked her if the authorities were considering sending aid to the miners surrounded in Stilfontein.
The day before these shameful declarations, the authorities had nevertheless agreed to let volunteers drop water and food after having been alerted to the precariousness of the situation at the bottom of the mine by a resident sent in “reconnaissance mission”according to the daily The World.
Earlier in December, a court allowed the volunteers to receive emergency aid, such as food, water, and medicine. However, the besieged miners had to continue to operate in almost complete darkness, the volunteers assure, given that batteries for headlamps, candles or gasoline for generators were not authorized, the daily continues.
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