Police can’t be prevented from doing their jobs in Stilfontein: Judge

Police at the scene of the standoff with illegal miners in Stilfontein.

2 minutes

High Court Judge Brenda Neukircher has probed the applicants that have launched an urgent application against the State in the Stilfontein matter on the Margaret Mine Shaft in North West that has been made available by the various Government entities and is supposedly a safer exit for the miners who are still underground.

Two of the respondents, the Police and Mineral Resources Ministers, who have chosen to oppose the matter argue that the miners are not trapped and in fact elect not to emerge from beneath the surface because they fear arrest.

The urgent application was brought before the High Court in which the Society for the Protection of our Constitution seeks relief that the alleged illegal prospectors be provided with emergency relief and that the Stilfontein Mine Shaft be unblocked.

However, Neukircher says no evidence has been provided to suggest that the police are not conducting their operations lawfully.

She says, “What do I do with the fact that the respondents tell me that there is another mine shaft available through which these miners have and can still exit, that Stilfontein mine shaft is problematic because it’s 2km deep and they are busy sending in a team to assess the safety of that mine shaft, but in the meantime, Margaret is made available and miners can actually exit.”

Neukircher says, “The basis of the relief is that the police are blocking the mine shaft and therefore the miners are unable to exit. The police cannot be prevented from doing their jobs. I don’t see anything in these papers that show that they are not conducting themselves in effecting these arrests lawfully.”

The High Court has also heard that it is the State’s duty to safeguard the rights of the suspected illegal miners.

The applicants in the matter have disputed the assertion made by the respondents that it is, in fact, the mine owner, Buffelsfontein Gold Mines, who should be responsible for providing emergency care for the alleged illegal prospectors.