Stilfontein illegal miners resort to cannibalism as relief efforts begin to dwindle

A letter sent from under the Stilfontein earth highlights the dire situation facing illegal miners.

It has been almost a month since the Gauteng High Court granted an interim order allowing illegal miners to receive emergency aid.

However, the non-profit organisation supplying the food is running low on resources, with the bodies of the surfacing men illustrating the extreme malnourishment being experienced.

Further application dismissed

Two further court dates have sought to expedite the relief efforts, but the arguments have fallen on deaf legal ears.   

A full hearing relating to the interim order scheduled for 5 December was postponed to 12 February, while Mining Communities United in Action (Macua) last week made another urgent application at the Gauteng High Court.

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The application sought to compel authorities to provide food and necessities to the miners as well as begin rescue operations within 24 hours.

This application was dismissed with costs on 20 December, leaving Macua’s dwindling efforts the only relief for the increasingly unhealthy miners.

Two food runs a week

Nourishment is provided to the miners by Macua and National administrator Sabelo Mnguni told The Citizen that they would be taking 200 boxes of mageu and 200 boxes of instant porridge to the shafts on Friday.

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This would be the second food drop of the week, adding to the two they were able to package last week.

He said providing food for the men underground was becoming increasingly difficult as they were running out of resources having relied solely on donations so far.

Mnguni said that rope was among their highest expense, stating they needed at least 2km of rope to feed down the shaft.

“We can only pull three miners out at a time. If we do that every day it will take us over 12 months to rescue them all,” he told The Citizen.

“We need a professional rescue team to retrieve at least 20 per day — minimum — to help save their lives,” Mnguni added.

Illegal miners eating ‘human flesh’

Mnguni added that letters relayed in the rudimentary pullies described an inhumane and unsanitary situation.

“We are perishing slowly, it is difficult here underground. People are dying because of starvation. Hunger is the only thing we see that is killing people here underground,” read the letter.

“We have nine people who have already passed away. Some people are trying to exit at Shaft 10, but they keep falling.

“We are also eating [the] human flesh of those who are falling because of starvation, please, we request assistance, there [are] a lot of people here underground,” the handwritten note explains.

The letters beg for food and a chance to escape the corpse-filled caverns. 

Operation Vala Umgodi in Stilfontein

Police have offered little sympathy, remaining resolute in their pursuit of illegal miners across the country through Operation Vala Umgodi.

“[We] remain adamant that there is no illegal miner that is trapped underground and that they simply refuse to resurface because they are avoiding arrest,” stated national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe earlier.

North West provincial police spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh confirmed to The Citizen that roughly 1 500 illegal miners had been arrested after resurfacing in Stilfontien.

Myburgh explained that there are three shafts used as entry and exit points — Margaret Shaft, Buffelsfontein shaft 10 and Buffelsfontein shaft 11.

More illegal miners were still making their way to the surface, with 26 having been arrested on Boxing Day and expected to appear in court on Friday, 27 December.

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