Volunteers enter South African mines to assist miners

Dozens of volunteers have entered an abandoned gold mine in South Africa to help thousands of illegal miners who have been operating underground for a month.

Because miners deliberately entered the shaft at Stilfontein hoping to retrieve gold or mineral residue, authorities took a hard line, blocking food and water supplies.

Earlier this week, a government minister said: “We will suck them up.”

The miners have refused to cooperate with authorities because some are undocumented migrants and fear deportation or arrest.

There were reports that miners ate vinegar and toothpaste to survive while underground.

There are fears that their health may decline and they may be too weak to leave the mine on their own.

The volunteers, organized into three groups of 50 people each, said it took about an hour to get one person out.

Lebogang Maiyane has been volunteering since the beginning of the week.

“The government does not care about the impact on the right to life of illegal miners who remain below the surface – this is tantamount to murder,” he said.

Illegal miners are known as “zama zama” (“seize the opportunity” in Zulu) and operate from abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue each year.

Police are hesitant to enter the mine because some people underground may be armed.

Busi Thabane, from the Benchmarks Foundation, a charity that monitors cartels in South Africa, told the BBC’s Newsday program that some were members of crime syndicates or “recruited” to join them. that one organization.

Many mines in South Africa have closed in recent years and workers have been laid off.

To survive, miners and undocumented migrants must go underground to escape poverty and dig for gold to sell on the black market.

Some spend months underground – there is even a small economy of people selling food, cigarettes and cooked meals to the miners.

Local people pleaded with the government to support the miners but they refused.

“We will suck them out. They will come out. We are not helping criminals. Criminals are not being helped – they will be persecuted.” [sic],” Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Wednesday.

A father whose two sons are working underground said the minister’s comments were “terrible”.

He told the BBC: “These people are human beings. These people have families.”

Relatives of the miners protested near the mine site, holding up banners that read: “Suck out the ANC” and “Down with the Minister who is President”.

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu visited the scene on Friday, but when he tried to speak to community members waiting to hear news about their loved ones in the bunker, he was chased away.

Thandeka Tom, whose brother was in the mine, criticized the police for not sending help.

“They are talking from a privileged perspective, there is a problem of unemployment in the country and people are breaking the law when they try to put food on the table,” she told the BBC.

Without access to supplies, conditions underground were said to be dire.

“The issue is no longer about illegal miners – this is a humanitarian crisis,” Ms Thabane said.

On Thursday, community leader Thembile Botman told the BBC that volunteers used ropes and safety lines to pull a body out of the mine.

“The stench of decomposing bodies traumatized the volunteers,” he said.

It is unclear how this person died.

Although the government blockaded food and water, they temporarily allowed locals to send some supplies down by rope.

Mr. Botman said they contacted the miners with notes written on pieces of paper.

Police blocked entrances and exits in an attempt to force the miners out.

This is part of the Vala Umgodi, or “Closing the Hole” operation, aimed at curbing illegal mining.

Five miners were pulled out Wednesday by ropes, but they were weak. Paramedics attended to them and they were later arrested by police.

Last week, 1,000 miners showed up and were arrested.

Police and military are still at the scene to detain those who do not need medical attention after emerging.

“It is not as easy as the police think – some of them are fearing for their lives,” Ms Thabane said.

Many miners spend months underground in unsafe conditions to feed their families.

“For many of them, it’s the only way they know how to put food on the table,” Ms. Thabane said.

The South African Human Rights Commission said it would investigate police depriving miners of food and water.

They say there is concern that government action could affect the right to life.

Illegal mining is a lucrative business in many South African mining towns.

Since December last year, nearly 400 large-caliber guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, uncut diamonds and money have been confiscated from illegal miners.

This is part of an intensive military and police operation to prevent behavior that seriously affects the environment.