Police have cut water and food supplies to the miners, insisting that they will not negotiate with ‘criminals
Police have made it clear that they will not be held liable for any deaths or injuries which might occur during community rescuers’ efforts to help illegal miners trapped in an abandoned mine in Stilfontein in North West.
Law-enforcement authorities would not endanger the lives of police and soldiers by allowing them to go underground to rescue them, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told the Mail & Guardian.
“Firstly, there are hazardous gases that are flowing there. There is a high risk of loss of life, and according to our intelligence, these illegal miners may be heavily armed,” Mathe said.
Community members who have decided to help the miners, have been made to sign indemnity forms which will exempt the government from liability should they be killed or injured, she added.
“We have been getting calls from the community saying they want to fetch their loved ones, so we are dealing with a complex situation. We are making them sign indemnity forms.
“We have consulted the owners of the mine and the department of mineral resources and energy who have confirmed that it is not safe to go down there,” Mathe said.
“We have taken them through the dangers and consequences of going down there and, despite that, they demand that they would want to go and rescue their loved ones. It is a last resort. It is not safe and we have reiterated this to these community members but they have signed and, based on that, we have allowed them.
“If there’s any risk, injury and death, the government will not take responsibility because we have taken them through the dangers, consequences and so on.”
Mathe said South Africans were quick to forget the crimes associated with illegal miners, refering to an incident in 2022 on the West Rand where eight women were gang raped, allegedly by a group of illegal miners.
She said the South African Police Service (SAPS) would not negotiate with criminals.
“We have got a job to do as the SAPS and we are not backing down. What is happening down there is illegal and we are simply enforcing the law.
“We are not going to celebrate crime. We are not going to allow crime to thrive under our watch. We are doing what we are supposed to do and that is to prevent and combat criminality.”
Mathe’s comments follow those of Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who told a media briefing this week that the government would not attempt to rescue those trapped at the mine but would instead “smoke them out”.
“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, must go and take the food down there. They will come out; we will arrest them,” she said.
On Thursday, the overall commander of the operation in Stilfontein Kaizer Modiba confirmed that police had cut the supply of food and water for two days.
During a visit to the site by the M&G, residents were gathered outside the mine, with some helping to bring up those trapped underground. At least 200 men, women and children sat waiting to see if their loved ones would emerge.
The rescuers were using a rope about 1 600 metres long, which they lowered into the ground, in the hope that someone would grab it and be pulled up. While M&G was in the area, a decomposed body was pulled to the surface using the rope.
One community member who went underground, who did not want to be named, said thousands of people were still trapped there. They were surface but were weak, hungry and did not have light to help them find their way out. Many people had died underground, he added.
“The place is stinking, people have died there. The people are not refusing to come out — there’s no food and water there and they do not have the strength to come out,” he told the M&G.
“It’s also too dark there and there’s no light which makes it difficult for them to move. So, they requested torches and or batteries for their lights.
“We just assisted now to get a body out and it’s not the only one because there’s another still underground. It’s been three days since we started assisting.
“They [the authorities] are refusing them food — and they are killing them. We feel like what is being said by the minister and the police is killing them.
“If we decide, as the community, that we will stop rescuing them, they will not want to do it. They will just watch these people die underground, meaning they are condoning these people being killed.
“They just want to gain popularity by using the plight we are facing here. Their job here is just killing people. Even when a criminal is arrested for murder, you give them food.”
Another resident, who only identified himself as Thato, said police were making rescuers sign indemnity forms so they would not held liable for injuries and death and they should apply the same principles when dealing with those willing to risk their lives to mine for gold underground.
“Why is it that they don’t allow us to take the risk every day so we can mine in peace without any interference from the government? We want the government to give us a permit to allow us to go in at our own risk,” Thato to the M&G.
“They should make us sign the indemnity forms through the year and allow us to get in and also allow us to sell whatever we get in the open market.
“The other problem is that, when a person comes out, the police arrest them and we do not know what’s happening. I do not have a family member here but I’m here to assist those underground because I know them.”
Police spokesperson Mathe insisted that it was not true that the illegal miners were trapped, saying they were refusing to come up.
“If they were trapped, it would mean they were conducting legal operations. They are refusing to resurface,” she said.
“This is a last resort by a caring government. We have tried by all means to get these illegal miners to resurface safely and, despite our efforts as SAPS, they have refused to resurface.
“We went as far as printing flyers in different languages to say come out or use different shafts that you can exit, but they have not done so.”
“As the SAPS, we would get advice and then look at all possible solutions to try and get these people up and resurface. We would use this information to make the necessary responsible decisions. Based on that we allow them to go in, yes, it is a crime scene but it’s not tampering. There is no crime scene on the surface but the crime scene is at the bottom.”
Responding to allegations that some of the illegal miners were being forced to work there, Mathe said the police were aware of these allegations and they were being investigated.
“We do hear that there are others who want to resurface but are being stopped from resurfacing because of intimidation,” she said.