Non-governmental organisation, the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) says it may have to approach courts in another attempt to get an order for the rescuing of illegal miners holed up underground at Stilfontein mine in North West.
The SA Police (SAPS) insists the miners are not trapped underground but the people are simply refusing to resurface for fear of being arrested for illegal mining.
On Monday, IOL reported that the High Court in Pretoria has dismissed the application brought by non-governmental organisation Society for the Protection of our Constitution over the illegal miners.
In its application, the Society for the Protection of Our Constitution argued that the unknown number of individuals reportedly trapped underground in the disused mine shaft are entitled to access basic necessities, including water and food.
On the other hand, Christopher Rutledge, executive director of MACUA told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that evidence on the ground shows that the illegal miners, colloquially referred to as zama zamas, are desperate to resurface – contrary to what the SAPS has been saying.
“It’s unfortunate that the party which went to court, the Society for the Protection of the Constitution, while we applaud their actions of going to court, it was quite disappointing that voices of people on the ground were not included in the court cases. We believe the court has not heard the full story. The court was only able to act on the information that the State provided,” said Rutledge.
“The information we are getting from the ground is not the same as what the police are telling the nation, they are not acting in good faith as far as we can tell. It is not a simple matter of allowing people to exit from Margaret shaft. The police commissioner there (in North West) knows that what we are dealing with are hundreds of kilometres of underground mine pathways and tunnels. It is almost impossible to navigate with a map, never mind without a map.”
Rutledge insisted that the zama zamas are trapped underground and have no fuel for lighting to navigate their way out of the mine shafts maze.
“Even the miners that came out (on Sunday night), it took them five days to move from shaft 11 to 10. They are risking their lives to get out. They are becoming increasingly desperate to get out. The police are steadfastly refusing to let those who want to come out, to come out. If that continues, then unfortunately we have to look at our options, to take the matter back to court because we cannot allow people to die based on information that is not completely accurate and doesn’t tell the court exactly what is going on at Stilfontein at the moment,” he said.
On Monday, IOL also reported that North West Community Safety MEC Wessels Morweng gave an update on the zama zamas issue.
“The total number of illegal miners who had resurfaced since the 18th of August are 1,259. Of them, 871 are Mozambicans, 343 are Zimbabweans, 33 are Lesotho nationals, one Malawian and only ten are South Africans.
“So far, one body was resurfaced and the pathology process is underway to verify the nationality and the time of his death. All miners once resurfaced are taken through law enforcement process and thereafter all undocumented foreign nationals are processed by Home Affairs through their procedures.”
IOL