-
Rescue teams and SAPS in Stilfontein.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu says officials must be given time to wrap up rescue operations at the abandoned mine shaft in Stilfontein in the North West, instead of being judged without facts.
Mchunu’s comments follow a statement from the South African Federation of Trade Unions, which described the situation in Stilfontein as a “‘massacre”.
The union criticised government, calling it a government without humanity.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) says 84 illegal miners were retrieved alive on Wednesday and 18 bodies recovered from shaft 11.
Mchunu says, “I would caution passing judgment because we’re the middle of the operation. We are still working on the ground, so to be judgmental, to say that government failed before you have the totality of the situation. But I do understand. And accept that this is an emotional issue everyone wants to judge. It’s like when you are in a burning house, everybody will say let’s go through the window, let’s go through the door and you will be coming across each other but not going out and we want to stay sober focused, while people have their say.”
Stilfontein Mine | Rescue operations continue: Police Minister Senzo Mchunu
