By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The main application over the stand-off between illegal miners and police in Stilfotein in the North West has been postponed to 21 November by the Pretoria High Court.
The organisation, Society for the Protection of our Constitution, approached the court for relief for the unconfirmed number of illegal miners still underground.
On Saturday, the court granted an order directing that the mine be unblocked and that emergency personnel be permitted access to the trapped people.
The ruling follows growing concerns about the well-being of the illegal miners – who can spend months below ground – after police cut off food and water supplies.
The blockade of the Stilfontein mine is part of an escalating clampdown by the government and police on the activity of illegal miners in the country.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) welcomed the court order but said that the ruling does not prevent the detention of illegal miners who are in good health.
Fullview understands the case was adjourned to allow the court time to review the SAPS response documents.
National Police Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe stated that the answering affidavit clarified that the miners were not trapped, but were instead refusing to come to the surface.
“They are refusing to go out because they are avoiding arrest,” she said.
She also pointed out that an alternative shaft had been opened, allowing more than 500 illegal miners to safely exit the underground area.
Yasmin Omar, the lawyer representing the illegal miners, accused the police of deliberately delaying the case by filing their answering affidavit at the eleventh hour.
“The filing of papers late was a way of orchestrating a postponement of this matter in a situation where we have told the court this is really a matter of life and death as we have seen and heard that there are people dying underground,” she said.
Omar also raised concerns about the heavy police presence and the deployment of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops around the mine shaft.
“This is not a conventional police operation and this is clearly indicated by the fact that the military is there heavily armed.”
She further compared the situation to the 2016 Marikana massacre, where police killed 34 striking mineworkers.
Meanwhile department of mineral resources Gwede Mantashe requested that this court should not assist these illegal miners to evade arrest.
Mantashe the illegal miners had been “in and out of this shaft for a period of over a year” and “as such, they have enough essentials down there for them to survive for a very long period of time.