Police officers escort community members to a mine shaft to negotiate with miners underground to resurface in Stilfontein on 13 November 2024. Picture: Emmanuel Croset / AFP
The number of illegal miners who have resurfaced from mineshafts at Stilfontein mine has risen to 55.
This brings to 1,259 the number of zama zamas who have resurfaced since 18 August.
North West community safety and transport management MEC Wessels Morweng said most of the illegal miners are foreign nationals.
Morweng, accompanied by Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Policing Major General Patrick Asaneng, briefed the media on progress over the past few days regarding the rescue of illegal miners.
“Since 18 August, about 1 259 zama zamas were arrested after resurfacing in the area. About 871 are Mozambicans, 343 are Zimbabweans, 33 are Lesotho nationals, one is Malawian, and only 10 are South Africans.
“So far, one body was resurfaced, and the pathology process is under way to verify the nationality and the time of his death. All illegal miners, once resurfaced, are taken through law enforcement process, and after that, all undocumented foreign nationals are processed by home affairs through their procedures,” Morweng said.
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Morweng reiterated that no police officers would be sent underground to rescue the zama zamas.
“The Constitution speaks about a right to life. A right to life is not only applicable to those criminals there. The right to life speaks also to the police because we need to also protect the rights of the police.
“So we have always made it very clear, no one is going to be sent underground. It is for that reason we took advantage of the fourth industrial revolution and cameras to verify other things. We are dealing with criminals, they are heavily armed, that’s a fact,” Morweng said.
On Sunday, 14 zama zamas – identified by police as Mozambican nationals – resurfaced at Shaft 10, located a few kilometres away. Among them was a 14-year-old minor.
On Monday, another group of zama zamas attempted to resurface at the same shaft but fled back underground upon spotting police. A police contingent remains stationed at Shaft 10, ready to arrest any who resurface.
Meanwhile, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday dismissed an application to seek final relief for the illegal miners still underground at Stilfontein, North West.
Civil organisation, the Society for the Protection of our Constitution, approached the court in a bid to force government departments, including the South African Police Service (Saps), to provide necessary emergency disaster relief to the illegal miners, such as food, water, medical supplies, blankets and, if needed, medical relief.
The application also sought to compel government departments to extract the zama zamas that are underground.
The organisation accused the police of blocking entrances to the mine shafts, making it impossible for the illegal miners to resurface.
A special task team established by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu is currently conducting an operation to get the illegal miners out of the mine in Stilfontein in a bid to shut down the scourge of illegal mining plaguing the country.
Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde
ALSO READ: Court dismisses organisation’s application for relief of Stilfontein illegal miners
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