By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: Emmanuel Croset.
The High Court in Pretoria has granted an order that the Stilfontein mine be opened, to allow emergency teams to access the remaining illegal miners.
This comes after the Society for the Protection of our Constitution approached the court on an urgent basis.
In an interim order, Judge Brenda Neukircher ruled that the shaft may not be blocked “by any person or institution whether government or private”.
Judge Neukircher ordered that miners trapped in the mine shaft be permitted to exit and that no non-emergency personnel may enter the mine shaft.
SA Police Services (SAPS) confirmed that three illegal miners, who had been underground, had returned to the surface on Saturday.
Many of the miners who have been pulled out of the shaft are said to be extremely dehydrated and in urgent need of medical assistance.
The Stilfontein gold mine is more than 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) deep. At such depths, temperatures can reach dangerously high levels, often exceeding 50 degrees Celsius (122F), and oxygen levels can be extremely low.
Toxic gases such as methane and carbon monoxide are common in abandoned mines, posing severe health risks. Any rescue operations are likely to be hampered by the mine’s narrow and unstable tunnels that require advanced equipment and expert teams.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, who visited the site of the disused mine on Friday, maintained the miners were committing a crime, but that a quick recovery process was needed “because it is risky and dangerous for them to remain where they are for a longer period”.
Police said they welcomed Saturday’s interim court order by the Gauteng High Court.
“The order does not in anyway prevent SAPS from performing its constitutional mandate. All those who resurface will continue to be assessed by emergency medical personnel on site, as has been the case. Those that are in a good health will be processed and detained,” said police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
Mathe added that those miners requiring further medical care will be taken to hospital under police guard.
Meanwhile South Africa’s Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) said it was “extremely concerned” that the situation “may end in a tragedy.”
“Cutting off food and water supplies — with what can only be described as malicious intent, a vindictive act — without a strategy for directly and indirectly engaging with these mineworkers is not helpful,” the union said in a statement Friday.
According to SAFTU, South Africa harbors up to 100,000 artisanal miners, known locally as “zama zamas” with most of the minerals derived from artisanal mining “sold to the black market, and international illicit mineral traders.” It blamed the government for failing to regulate the mining sector.
The Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said on Wednesday that no help would be given to the illegal miners.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out,” she said.
Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.