‘The police have killed our loved ones’: relatives of trapped NW illegal miners

“The police have killed our loved ones; they have blood on their hands.”

These were the words of distressed North West residents whose neighbours and families, working as illegal miners, have been trapped underground at various shafts around the province for several months as the police conduct Operation Vala Umgodi.

Police and soldiers have, in recent months, flushed out more than a thousand illegal miners, also known as zama zamas, by blocking supplies of food, water and other necessities.

Many have been arrested after their forced emergence, while it's believed that more than 4,000 miners remain trapped underground.

North West police on Wednesday afternoon confirmed the resurfacing of five more illegal miners in old Buffelsfontein mine in Stilfontein, who were treated then arrested.

TimesLIVE Premium visited the scene but was barred from reaching the disused mine by police, who cited safety issues.

Worried relatives and members of the nearby Khuma community were also kept at a distance, adding to their anxiety about the fate of their loved ones.

They were forced to wait nearly a kilometre away, huddling in groups in the rain while sharing dwindling food supplies among themselves.

Betty Thulo* was among the group of relatives. She said more than 10 of her relatives remain underground, including her in-laws, uncles and nephews.

“Some have been underground for more than a year, others have been there for five to seven months,” she said.

According to Thulo, they were able to communicate with the miners — that is until law enforcement cut off their supplies. According to several residents, this started at the end of August. 

“It all went quiet once the police started with their nonsense operation. We stopped hearing from them and have no idea what happened,” she said.

Family members, who have been coming to the site for about a month, shared their concerns about the wellbeing of the trapped miners, some of whom require medication and haven't been able to receive it. 

They also complained about the lack of updates from the police, and said they have had to rely on volunteers from the community who agreed to assist in the recovery operation for the latest news.

“We were told that things are bad down there, people have died and others are on the brink of death. They can't move around because their torches no longer have batteries,” Thulo said.

We were told that things are bad down there, people have died and others are on the brink of death. They can't move around because their torches no longer have batteries.

“We're not denying the police the right to do their job, but the way they are doing it, they've killed our loved ones and have blood on their hands. They've also taken away our financial security and safety.”

This was echoed by several locals, who spoke of the financial contribution and support the illegal miners brought to the community. For them, these were desperate job seekers who had opted to try their luck in mining rather than resort to drugs or other criminal enterprises.

Nosipho Solani*, whose boyfriend has been underground since August, recalled his last words to her before he left.

“He told me he's going to zama zama (hustle) so he can provide. In the past I was able to communicate with him via WhatsApp, but I couldn't this time because of the network issue.”

While the two don't have children together, her boyfriend has two children of his own — one in Lesotho and another in Westonaria — who rely on him for financial support.

She also lamented the lack of information — and said they were forced to rely on the public and media for updates.

Solani said all they wanted was for the police to “let these people resurface and not arrest them”.

“They must also not confiscate their equipment because these miners need that to make a living. They can then close the holes, once the miners are out,” she said.

Khuma community leader Johannes Qankase explained their involvement in retrieving the stranded miners. Qankase said worried relatives approached them for help in the wake of the police operations.

“We managed to get volunteers from the community who were able to assist with retrieving those trapped underground.

“So far, they've managed to retrieve [several] people who aren't in a good condition. They looked dehydrated and very weak, but the police promised to help them,” he said.

Qankase blasted the police and government for their response, saying while they had no issue with the law taking its course, the recovery operation ought to take priority.

This is especially so as the process is arduous. Qankase said it takes about 45 minutes to retrieve one person.

“There's thousands of people still underground, so without help this operation can take us months to execute. And our worry is that people are very sick and weak.

“But now, we've heard disturbing news today [Wednesday]. We heard what minister in the presidency [Khumbudzo Ntshavheni] said about these people being criminals and government was not willing to assist. So clearly our government is failing us and not assisting us,” he said.

Ntshavheni laughed off questions about whether the government was considering helping about 4,500 illegal miners underground in Stilfontein without food and water.

Briefing the media on Wednesday after the cabinet's regular meeting, Ntshavheni said it was “not the government’s job to retrieve criminals”.

“You want us to send help to criminals? You want us to send help to criminals, honestly?” she asked.

“We're not sending help to criminals. We're going to smoke them out, they will come out. Criminals are not to be helped, criminals are to be persecuted. We didn't send them there and they didn't go down there for the benefit of the republic, so we can't help them.

“Those who want to help them, they must go and take the food down there. They will come out and we'll arrest them.”

The recovery operation was discontinued at 5pm and is set to resume on Thursday morning.

Police operation could be a PR disaster waiting to happen: experts

There was no winning solution for the police to arrest the thousands of illegal mineworkers trapped underground, except to consult mining and medical experts to ensure the lives of the suspected criminals were protected as police halted the supply of food and water to lure them out, said policing experts.

Criminal expert and founder of the Institute for Security Studies Jakkie Cilliers said if police had taken every precaution to inform the illegal miners to resurface, there would have been no other way to extract them, as going underground to make the arrests could have been dangerous for police.

“There is probably no other way to do this. I have a degree of sympathy for the police because, on the one hand, it’s a PR disaster waiting to happen. How do you humanely handle this? None of us, including the police, want people to die. [The illegal miners] are in a dangerous position being underground illegally, and they are not supposed to do this and are probably trying to wait it out. I think one thing is for police to make efforts to allow the illegal miners to [resurface] in some way if it’s possible. It sounds like a no-win situation for the police,” Cilliers said.

However, the police could not allow illegal miners to carry on in numbers with their activities which affected the mines and led to xenophobia as the public felt the government was not doing enough, leading to criticism of the police, said Cilliers. 

“How else do they do this except by removing them and closing the shaft? There are consequences if a person acts illegally. They are illegal miners and they know that — people are going to try to avoid that and try to create public sympathy. I think the police need to be fair but firm ... These activities are illegal and put the lives of people in danger and can’t carry on,” he said.

Retired policing expert Johan Burger said the operation raised moral questions, but the police should be prepared to send rescue workers together with protection to assist illegal miners who had fallen ill as a result of a lack of food and water.

“Medical assistance isn’t normally the police’s responsibility, but police being on the scene and exercising their policing power, have, to some extent, created the situation and by doing that, they have created the responsibility to ensure necessary relief of medical services.

He said such a large operation required expertise from mining rescue specialists and medical personnel at the scene to ensure the safe resurfacing and arrest of the illegal miners.

“The police must ensure that those who are in the tunnels are provided with police services and medical assistance and brought to the surface. They can still exercise their powers in terms of arrests once the necessary medical attention is given to the illegal miners.

“The police themselves cannot make a decision on their own and need experts from the mining industry and medical experts to advise them on the best way of doing this, given their responsibility in the process, measured with the safety concerns of those underground,” Burger said.

*Not their real names