Phone video shared by mining NGO appears to show dozens of wrapped bodies in underground tunnel. The South African government has launched a mission to bring potentially hundreds of people in an illegal mine to the surface who last year had supplies of food, water and medicine blocked by police in an attempt to force them out.
The government agreed to the attempt on Friday after the sister of one of those underground initiated a court case in response to letters from miners brought to the surface on Thursday. One of the letters claimed 109 people had already died in the Buffelsfontein gold mine near Stilftontein, about 100 miles south-west of Johannesburg.
Illegal mining has flourished in South Africa in recent decades as many industrial mines have been exhausted. Analysts estimate there are around 30,000 “zama zama” illegal miners producing 10% of South Africa’s gold output in 6,000 abandoned mineshafts, often controlled by violent criminal syndicates.
In late 2023, police launched Operation Vala Umgodi (plug the hole) to crack down on the sector across South Africa’s north-eastern mining belt. In early November, they said their blockade of essential supplies around Stilfontein had forced hundreds of miners to the surface since mid-October “as a result of starvation and dehydration” although later that month they allowed some supplies to be sent down.
