26 illegal mineworkers, 2 bodies retrieved from Stilfontein mine

Twenty-six illegal mineworkers were retrieved from a disused mine shaft in Stilfontein in the North West during the first day of the official rescue operations funded by government.

According to Mametlwe Sebei representing Lawyers for Human Rights two bodies were also brought up from underground.

The Department of Mineral resources and Energy and the minerals council will foot the bill of R12 million, that will include the services of a specialist rescue crew.

Meanwhile, representatives from the ministries of police and mineral resources are set to visit the rescue site on Tuesday.

The rescue effort initially started by the community in October last year to retrieve illegal miners from underground has officially been taken over by the government.

The community managed to retrieve 35 illegal miners and 10 bodies while, a total of 1,570 illegal miners have resurfaced at Margaret shaft and shaft 10 in Stilfontein.

The NGO, Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) and community leaders blame the government for the deaths of what they say, are of over 100 illegal miners.

“What then the mine owners and the police did was to basically dismantle the pulling system and that meant for 13 days these miners did not have food, did not have water, did not have medication. But also, nobody could be able to rescue them, nor could they, of course, escape or get out of the mine by any other route. The result was a deadly trap that a Stilfontein Shaft 11 became, and as a result of that, we today have an estimation of 109 of the miners who we must say were murdered by the police,” says Mametlwe Sebei from the Lawyers for Human Rights.

Stilfontein Mine | Retrieval of illegal miners: Thabiso Moss updates