Operations to rescue illegal miners who were at shaft 11 in Stilfontein in North West were wrapped up on Thursday after mine rescue personnel did a final sweep and confirmed there were no illegal miners still underground.
The operation began on Monday when a 45-tonne mobile rescue winder crane, which can reach a depth of 3km underground, was lowered into the shaft.
Between Monday and Wednesday, mine rescue services personnel had retrieved 324 people from the shaft, of whom 246 are alive and 78 dead. Rescuers indicated there were no more human remains or illegal miners at the shaft on Wednesday.
Of the 246 live miners, 128 are from Mozambique, 80 from Lesotho, 33 from Zimbabwe and five from South Africa.
Despite this finding, police are maintaining a presence around the three shafts where almost 2,000 illegal miners surfaced in the past five months.
Police said since August 18 when the police operation started, and inclusive of the rescue mission which started on Monday, 1,905 people had emerged. Police had cut off food supplies to the shafts and monitored the exits to arrest miners.
Police revealed that of 1,925 illegal miners who resurfaced from Stilfontein, 26 were South African.
The South African government has often condemned the use of food as a weapon in conflicts such as the one between Israel and Palestine, but here at home it stands accused of employing the same barbaric tactics. This hypocrisy cannot go unnoticed.
— Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of Saftu
Police and government officials remained adamant that the rescue operation did not mean an end to its Operation Vala Umgodi to fight illicit mining.
On Tuesday, mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe said despite the rescue effort, he had not changed his view that illegal mining was a criminal activity.
“What will never shift to me is the way we deal with illegal mining. It should be intensifying the fight against illegal mining.”
Mantashe said illegal mining was a crime against the economy. “In 2024, the illicit precious metals trade was estimated at R60bn. It is not value to the economy; it is a leakage from the economy.
“Until you show me something different about illegal mining, that it adds value to the economy, I cannot change my approach and stance.”
“It is a criminal activity. It is an attack on our economy by foreign nationals in the main,” Mantashe said.
However, Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions, has vowed to hold the government accountable if pathological tests confirm that starvation caused the deaths of the illegal miners.
“These miners, many of them undocumented and desperate workers from Mozambique and other Southern African countries, were left to die in one of the most horrific displays of wilful state negligence in recent history,” Vavi said.
“The method of killing through starvation is reminiscent of the most brutal wars and genocides. The South African government has often condemned the use of food as a weapon in conflicts such as the one between Israel and Palestine, but here at home it stands accused of employing the same barbaric tactics. This hypocrisy cannot go unnoticed,” Vavi said.
The DA urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish a commission of inquiry into the ongoing disaster at the Buffelsfontein mine in Stilfontein.
The DA said it believed this crisis warranted a full and transparent inquiry into the causes and consequences of the disaster.
Among the issues the DA wants investigated include an examination of the actions or failures of government bodies such as law enforcement and the department of mineral resources & energy, which are responsible for managing and addressing illegal mining operations.
The DA also wants the inquiry to determine the factors that led to the disaster, including insufficient safety protocols and the escalation of illegal mining activities, and assess how government agencies have responded to the crisis.
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