Stilfontein siege: Activists demand justice as autopsies reveal starvation and state negligence

6 Feb 2025

The state has been accused of deliberately allowing the deaths of the miners who perished in the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine, with the majority of the deaths caused by dehydration and starvation.

More than 50 civil society organisations have banded together to uncover exactly what caused the deaths of the miners who perished in the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine siege.

At least 20 of the informal miners who died in Shaft 11 of the Buffelsfontein mine in Stilfontein died of starvation and dehydration. This is according to the Mining Affected Communities United in Action, which appointed an independent pathologist to carry out autopsies on the deceased miners.

Mining Affected Communities United in Action held a media briefing on the sidelines of its summit on Thursday, 6 February 2025, at which the organisation revealed that its independent pathologist had personally completed 20 autopsies, which proved beyond a doubt that the miners had starved and dehydrated to death.

The organisation’s pathologist also found that the miners had suffered from severe immune system suppression, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and bowel infections before they died.

The independent pathologist is still reviewing additional autopsies, but so far starvation remains consistent across all cases.

These are not natural deaths — they were entirely preventable

“These are not natural deaths — they were entirely preventable. The government deliberately refused to intervene, knowingly allowing these men to die in slow agony. This was not simply a case of miners entering a dangerous situation; the greatest and most lethal danger came from the state itself,” Sabelo Mnguni, Mining Affected Communities United in Action’s national administrator, said as he read the statement.

The miners’ deaths come after the South African Police Service (SAPS) sealed all entrances to Shaft 11 of the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine in August as part of Operation Vala Umgodi. The move ultimately cut off access to food, water, and medicine. In November, reports began circulating of police on the ground turning away food parcels meant for those stuck underground, despite a high court order compelling the delivery of food and water.

This was echoed by Mnguni on Thursday, who accused the police of actively sabotaging the system the community had set in place to get supplies to the miners. Mnguni alleged that the police actively blocked or damaged resources from community rescue teams.

Although Mining Affected Communities United in Action has announced the cause of death for some of the miners, the government has yet to release the state’s autopsy results.

North West Health MEC Sello Lehari confirmed that the postmortems had been concluded, but the details could not be revealed because the police investigation was ongoing.

Civil society hits back at Mantashe

Mining Affected Communities United in Action, joined by 50 other community-based organisations, including the Stilfontein Solidarity Committee and Khuma community leaders, condemned Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe for reiterating his unmoving stance on the government’s handling of the Stilfontein humanitarian crisis.

Giving the opening address at a mining indaba in Cape Town, Mantashe said that the Stilfontein crisis was not a humanitarian issue and that the government was under no obligation to provide the miners with food or aid.

“It’s like committing suicide. Committing suicide can’t be a humanitarian case,” the minister said.

Read more: Stilfontein solidarity in Cape Town: Miners ‘are human beings and their dignity should have been protected’

“Mantashe’s claim that humanitarian organisations should not have intervened because the miners ‘voluntarily’ entered dangerous conditions is not only morally bankrupt, but also an open endorsement of mass murder. His statement reflects a deeply fascist mentality that says poor black workers are disposable and unworthy of basic human rights,” Mnguni said.

The organisations added that by refusing to provide humanitarian assistance, blocking efforts to bring food and water, and allowing these miners to die slow, painful deaths from starvation and dehydration, the South African government had carried out an intentional act of state-sponsored extermination.

Calls for regulation of artisanal and small-scale miners

Mining Affected Communities United in Action and the Stilfontein Crisis Committee said what happened at Stilfontein was not an isolated incident, but a consequence of the government’s refusal to regulate and formalise artisanal and small-scale mining, thereby criminalising “thousands of poor black miners, pushing them into unsafe working conditions and exposing them to the exploitation of syndicates and corrupt officials”.

At a Stilfontein solidarity picket on the sidelines of the mining indaba in Cape Town on Wednesday, 5 January 2025, about 50 people demonstrated against the exclusion, exploitation, and criminalisation of artisanal miners and mining-affected communities.

Stilfontein Solidarity Committee member Hannah Kaniki, an intersectional justice activist at Protest as Praxis and Artists4Equity, told Daily Maverick: “The massacre at Stilfontein exposes the deep dehumanisation of workers, especially those in the informal sector.”

Unlike the Marikana miners, who were at least recognised as part of the formal economy, Kaniki said that zama zamas were entirely excluded from legal economic structures.

“The siege of Stilfontein (where the state used starvation tactics to force miners out) showed the ultimate level of dehumanisation — treating workers as disposable, not even worthy of basic humanitarian consideration,” Kaniki said.

She added that Marikana and Stilfontein demonstrated capitalist alienation, but in different ways. She said that the Marikana miners were alienated within formal labour structures and violently suppressed when they sought reform, whereas the Stilfontein miners were alienated from formal labour entirely, existing in a precarious economy in which they were not even considered workers, but rather “criminals or disposable lives”.

During Thursday’s press conference, Mining Affected Communities United in Action and Stilfontein Crisis Committee demanded that the government amend the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act to be inclusive of artisanal and small-scale mining, as the current legislative framework served only the interests of large corporations while excluding the communities that bore the brunt of the mining industry’s social and environmental consequences.

Other demands included:

The immediate resignation of Gwede Mantashe for his role in this humanitarian catastrophe.

Criminal charges, including murder and crimes against humanity, be instituted against Mantashe and all government officials responsible for the 87 deaths in Stilfontein.

An independent investigation/commission into the deliberate starvation of the miners and the government’s role in enabling syndicate operations while criminalising poor miners.

The immediate dismantling of corruption within the police force, which allows syndicate bosses to escape justice while brutalising the poor.

The immediate start of the process of amending the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act to bring the law into alignment with the stark realities of marginalised and affected communities.

The development of urgent economic alternatives for mining-affected communities, including regulating the artisanal and small-scale mining sector so that people are not forced into dangerous informal mining to survive.

An immediate end to the intimidation and harassment of civil society organisations and activists who provide humanitarian aid to the Stilfontein miners. The government must stop its attempts to criminalise those defending constitutional rights. Furthermore, the immediate cessation of all degrading and retaliatory actions against volunteers, including the targeted mistreatment of the rescuer who saved 246 lives. Instead of being punished, his bravery should be recognised and honoured.

“The tragedy in Stilfontein is yet another reminder that without urgent legislative and policy reform, the cycle of exploitation, state violence, and economic exclusion will continue. Mining Affected Communities United in Action and the Stilfontein Crisis Committee remain committed to mobilising mining-affected communities to demand justice, challenge unjust laws, and push for an inclusive and democratic mining sector that serves the people — not just the political and corporate elite,” said Mining Affected Communities United in Action. DM

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South Africa

Civil society hits back at Mantashe

Calls for regulation of artisanal and small-scale miners