CNN
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The South African government has launched a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine in the country’s North West province where at least 109 men have died, a group representing miners said, after local authorities cut off vital supplies in a dramatic attempt at repression. on the country’s illegal mining trade.
The bodies of 100 men remain trapped in the Stilfontein mine, according to Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), which told CNN that nine bodies were pulled from the shaft on Monday, along with 20 survivors.
Meshack Mbangula, head of Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), told CNN on Tuesday that the men may have died of starvation and dehydration.
Although there are different reports on the number of men trapped, Mbangula estimates that 500 people are still underground. Conditions in the wells, several kilometers deep, continue to deteriorate, he said.
A video shared by Mbangula and seen by CNN shows several bodies wrapped in plastic in the mine.
The video, filmed by one of the miners last week, according to Mbangula, also shows shirtless, emaciated-looking men with protruding bones and ribs.
A man speaking in Zulu pleads to be saved in one scene. Another man said: “How many days must we live in such a situation. »
CNN cannot independently verify the videos.
A letter written by the miners and obtained by CNN further illustrates the harsh conditions faced by the miners.
“Please get us out. Please help us get out or else give us food because (there are) people who died. We have 109 dead and we need plastic to wrap them up because the smell is too strong, we can’t stand the smell,” the miners said in the letter.
Community groups like MACUA say they have been leading efforts to help trapped miners for months, he said, as police cut off food and vital supplies to the men in November in an effort to force to leave the mine and close the mine.
The police decision – a self-styled crackdown on the illegal mining industry – drew criticism from community groups and the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), which in November called it “vindictive” and which could “end in tragedy”. .”
Police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe told reporters in November that the supply of food and water to the illegal immigrants had been cut off. “We are stopping and preventing food and water from getting there in order to force these illegal miners to resurface because what they are doing is criminality,” she said.
The minors risk being arrested as soon as they resurface, according to police.
In November, a South African court ordered police to end the standoff, provide food to the trapped miners and allow rescue teams access to the mine. The National Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) also said it was investigating the police for disrupting vital supplies to minors.
On Sunday, amid growing public pressure and reports that many miners had already died, the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy said it had begun planning a rescue operation at the abandoned shaft. The Department of Mineral Resources said “the decision to deploy emergency services was made independently” and not mandated by a court.
South Africa is home to up to 100,000 artisanal miners, known locally as “zama zamas”, most of whose minerals from artisanal mining are “sold to the black market and international illicit mineral traders ”, according to SAFTU.
The country also loses more than $1 billion each year to illegal mining, with black-market gold trading linked to violent internecine wars, according to a parliamentary document.
