Stilfontein mine rescue ends with 78 dead, 246 rescued and ringleaders in custody

North West acting provincial police commissioner Major General Patrick Asaneng announced on Thursday that the Buffelsfontein mine rescue mission had ended as no more bodies or people could be detected in the disused shaft.

This comes after the volunteers who were instrumental in retrieving the bodies of miners who died underground and rescuing those who were still alive reported on Wednesday that there were no longer any miners in the shaft.

After sending state-of-the-art cameras down into the shaft to sweep the area on Thursday morning, Mine Rescue Services CEO Mannas Fourie confirmed that no miners remained underground.

With the rescue operation at a close, the number of bodies retrieved since the operation began on Monday was 78, while 246 miners were rescued alive.

The Stilfontein saga began in August last year when the police descended on the mine, cutting off the illegal miners’ supply of food and water and arresting those who surfaced.

Since August, nearly 2,000 zama zamas have been arrested and a total of 87 bodies were recovered from the mine. Nine of the illegal miners who were arrested are in hospital receiving medical care under police guard.

Of the miners, 1,125 were Mozambican, 465 were from Zimbabwe, 200 from Lesotho, and 26 from South Africa.

Read in Daily Maverick: Stilfontein must not be another Marikana, President Ramaphosa

Ringleaders arrested

Speaking on radio station 702, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said several ringleaders who controlled the operation underground were arrested alongside the miners who are currently in police custody.

Mathe added that the miners who were rescued during the operation gave statements to the police, shedding light on the conditions under which they were kept at the hands of the ringleaders in the disused mine shaft.

“We are investigating allegations of assault and torture, where they are alleging that these ringleaders were torturing them, assaulting them underground. They also make allegations that the tonnes and tonnes of food that were sent down were kept and hoarded by these ringleaders,” she said.

Mathe said some of the miners told police that they were lured to the shaft with the promise of gainful employment and were not aware that they would have to go 3km into the shaft and mine.

She said police were still trying to track down the kingpins who remained above ground and called the shots in the illegal mining operation, stating that the investigation was ongoing.

Though the rescue operation has concluded, Mathe told 702 that Operation Vala Umgodi (“Close the Hole”) would continue and police would remain at the unsealed shaft, which is set to be rehabilitated.

“We do not want a situation where we find ourselves at this stage [again],” said Mathe.

Calls for inquiry into miners’ deaths

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and Good party have called for an inquest into the Stilfontein mine tragedy.

On Thursday, Good Secretary-General Brett Herron demanded a commission of inquiry into the “government’s delayed response to the humanitarian crisis in Stilfontein, costing potentially dozens of lives.

“It is astonishing that the situation was allowed to drag on for months and was only ‘resolved’ because our government was taken to court and forced to prioritise life. The bodies of illegal miners which have been brought to the surface affirm the dire situation below ground, which is supported by the physical state of the zama zamas who have surfaced and been arrested,” said Herron.

He added that the vast majority of the miners who were trapped in the shaft were victims of socioeconomic issues such as unemployment and the lack of economic opportunities.

“While a large proportion of the miners are foreign, the local community is made up of many foreign and local former miners who live without livelihoods due to the closing down of mines. The state has also committed to ensuring adequate livelihoods where possible in communities dependent on income from closed mining operations.

“However, the state has argued that Buffelsfontein gold mine was not closed and in a state of disrepair, but rather that the owners still maintained a valid operating licence and had merely paused operations,” he said.

Herron called for an inquiry to establish clarity on this grey area of legislation and on Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to ensure that SAPS investigations focused on the illegal mining kingpins “who abuse the desperation of others for illicit financial gains and put our communities at risk”.

On Wednesday, DA MP James Lorimer, the party’s spokesperson on mineral and petroleum resources, called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to immediately establish an inquest “so that those who have been derelict in their duty can be sanctioned and so that the same situation does not happen again.

“Illegal miners and their associated bosses and handlers have damaged South Africa’s economy and made life hell for tens of thousands of our people, but many low-level illegal miners are simply trying to scratch out a living and only performing an activity that is not even a crime under current law.

“There may be blame accruing to both the SAPS and the Department of Mineral and Energy Resources and because of this, they would not be the appropriate authorities to investigate this debacle,” said Lorimer. DM