South African police order to end standoff with illegal miners

Officers insist that the court directive will not prevent them from arresting people hiding in disused mine shafts

South Africa’s Police Service (SAPS) has vowed to continue operations at abandoned mines in the country’s North West province until hundreds of illegal miners who have been hiding in the shaft voluntarily resurface. The decision on Saturday comes despite a court ruling against the standoff.

The miners have reportedly been underground in the mine in Stilfontein for a month, with police cutting off access to food and supplies in order to force them out and arrest them. The blockade is part of SAPS’ Vala Umgodi (Close the Hole) operation, launched late last year to combat illegal mining, which is blamed for South Africa’s declining gold production.

The clampdown has sparked widespread concerns about the well-being of the suspects, who the authorities said have refused to cooperate. The police reported last week that they recovered at least one decomposed body from the mine. South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has declared that the government will not send help to the “criminals” and will instead “smoke them out.” 

According to local media, residents from neighboring communities have been using ropes to rescue the illegal miners, some of whom have become ill and are too weak to come out.

On Saturday, the High Court in the capital, Pretoria, ordered that the mine “shall be unblocked and may not be locked by any person or institution, whether government or private.”

READ MORE: South Africa vows to ‘smoke out’ illegal miners

“Any miners trapped in the mine shaft shall be permitted to exit. No non-emergency personnel may enter the mine shaft,” the court said in a preliminary ruling.

Yasmin Omar, an attorney leading the complaint, told state broadcaster SABC that the temporary order will at least allow the “4,000 people trapped” to receive emergency assistance. She stated that a full hearing on the complaint is scheduled for Tuesday.

In a statement on Saturday, the South African police said it welcomes the court’s order, but it “does not in any way prevent SAPS from performing its constitutional mandate.”

Read more

“All those who resurface will continue to be assessed by emergency medical personnel on site, as has been the case. Those that are in good health will be processed and detained,” SAPS declared.

Last week, the police said they have so far arrested more than 1,000 miners.

South Africa is one of the world’s leading gold-producing countries, holding nearly 30% of global gold deposits and 88% of all platinum deposits, according to official figures. However, the country’s mining output has been in decline for decades, owing in part to the activities of illegal miners, the majority of whom are said to be undocumented migrants from neighboring states, including Mozambique, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe.