South Africa: 100 dead and 500 trapped in illegal gold mine
At least 100 men have died of starvation and dehydration, and 500 more are trapped in an illegal gold mine in South Africa, according to the Associated Press on January 13th.
A cellphone sent to the surface with survivors on January 10th showed videos of dozens of bodies wrapped in plastic in the mine with the man filming saying: “Please help us. Bring us food or take us out.” 18 bodies have been brought out since then.
This mine is in Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg, and at 2.5 kilometres deep, is one of the deepest in South Africa.
The deaths follow a police operation which began in November 2024 in which authorities cut off the miners’ food supplies to force them out, an action fiercely criticized by human rights organizations.
A court case in December ordered police to allow food, water and medicine to be sent down to the miners.
Police said, “the miners were refusing to come out of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine for fear of arrest” but others have said the police removed the ropes miners used to climb in and out of the mine, according to the Associated Press.
Illegal mining is common in South Africa where companies have closed nonprofitable gold mines, leaving them open for illegal miners to enter.
Large groups of illegal miners often go underground for months and rely on others on the surface to send down supplies.
South African authorities have tried to crack down on illegal mining gangs, described as “having a reputation for being violent, often armed and part of criminal syndicates.”
However, a spokesman for the Mining Affected Communities United in Action Group has said these particular miners were not criminals but former employees who were driven into economic difficulty and poverty when the mine closed and they were put out off work.
This demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the South African government’s approach to tackling illegal mining and raises further concerns over their treatment of illegal miners and their deprivation of vital resources.
Associated Press
