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    • Thousands of miners lack food in a well: why isn’t the government helping them? | World News
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    Thousands of miners lack food in a well: why isn’t the government helping them? | World News

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    Up to 4,000 miners are estimated to be without food or water in a closed gold mine South Africaafter authorities cut off supplies and refused to help in a crackdown on the country’s illegal mining trade.

    The group got stuck an abandoned well in Stilfontein for three months, breathing toxic dust in stifling heat and wearing only underwear like they extract minerals to be sold on the black market.

    But with the government By stopping the supply of food, water and medicine, there are growing fears that no one will make it out alive. At least one decomposing body has already been found since police blocked most access points on October 18.

    Who are the miners and why are they underground?

    It is estimated that there are approximately 100,000 illegal miners known as “zama zamas” in South Africa.

    Typically poor migrant workers, they are often hired by criminal gangs and spend months underground extracting material from the estimated 6,000 abandoned mines left open by businesses and multinational corporations.

    Gold, the most lucrative of these metals, is worth around £610 million on the black market each year. But those who exploit it represent only the lowest level of the illegal trade.

    Kagiso Gabashane, a volunteer rescuer whose sister became pregnant by one of the men trapped underground, told South African newspaper Sowetan Live: “When he left he said he was going to hustle because his girlfriend was pregnant.

    “When a person from this community says they are going to fight, they mean they are going underground.”


    Aerial view of a mine shaft where around 4,000 illegal miners are trapped in a disused mine in Stilfontein, South Africa.
    Mining companies are supposed to close shafts when they become unusable – but they don’t (Photo: AP)

    At Stilfontein, miners were reportedly lowered into a 1.8km shaft using pieces of rope tied together and attached to a jig.

    This remains their only escape, but it takes an hour to lift a single person. And since this trade is illegal, they risk being arrested as soon as they reach the surface.

    The longer they stay, the weaker they become – and the South African government refuses to help them because of its official policy against illegal mining.


    What do we know about their condition?


    Volunteer rescue workers attend the opening of a reformed gold mine shaft where illegal miners are trapped in Stilfontein, South Africa.
    The miners removed by these volunteer rescuers say there are still hundreds, if not thousands, of people there (Photo: Denis Farrell/AP)

    An illegal miner, who did not go underground this time, said: “Life there is very hard and it is very hot underground.

    “We only work in our underwear and you have to eat constantly to have energy. So I can imagine how those stuck there feel.

    It is difficult to assess the condition of the minors, let alone their number.

    Some reports speak of a few hundred people underground, while others put the number at around 4,000. Police said 1,187 people had already emerged. Each of them was arrested.


    Police and private security guards attend the opening of a renovated gold mine.
    A pulley system is the only way in or out of the 1.8km-deep mine, but it takes an hour to move each person (Photo: Denis Farrell/AP)

    Those still underground have gone more than four weeks without food, water and medicine reaching them.

    “At this point, they are starving, dehydrating and breathing in toxic dust,” David Van Wyk, a senior researcher at the Johannesburg-based Benchmarks Foundation, told CNN.

    “They will come out very weak and sick when they come back.”


    Why is the South African government refusing to help?


    Volunteer rescue workers and community members leave the area near a closed mine.
    Volunteer rescuers – many of them illegal miners and people who know them – step in to help after the government refuses (Photo: Jerome Delay/AP)

    South African authorities have rejected claims that the miners are “trapped” underground, which might otherwise require official rescue efforts.

    A police spokesperson said: “No one is trapped underground. This is an illegal mining operation. When you use the word “trapped,” it means it’s a legal mining operation.

    “This is an illegal operation and, as a caring government, we have gone to great lengths to allow these illegal miners to resurface. It seems they refuse. Some have resurfaced.

    Cutting off supplies, blocking entrances and arresting miners when they emerge are part of an attempt to crack down on the illegal mining industry.


    Relatives, mostly women, miners and community members wait near an opening to the mine shaft.
    Family and friends of the trapped miners can do little but wait for news (Photo: Emmanuel Croset / AFP via Getty Images)

    By starving the miners, authorities hope to force them out of the mine, instead of having to send the police to collect them.

    A police spokesperson said: “We are stopping and preventing food and water from getting in in order to force these illegal miners to resurface, because what they are doing is criminal. »

    Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said: “We are not sending aid to criminals. We’re going to smoke them out.

    The approach alarmed the South African Federation of Trade Unions, which warned it “could end in tragedy”.

    This also prompted the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to investigate the police for restricting minors’ essential supplies.


    What happens next?


    A woman was leaning over, stirring a pot over a fire with a stick.
    Conditions deteriorate underground, so relatives above ground wait and cook (Photo: Jerome Delay/AP)

    An army of volunteers arrives each day at 9 a.m. to send the miners up the rope, working all day until they finish around 4 p.m.

    Nearby, family members – mainly women – gather and cook over a wood fire while waiting for news of their loved ones.

    While the government and police want to penalize miners, campaign group Mining Affected Communities United in Action wants reform – starting with forcing companies to close old mines and improving job opportunities.

    National coordinator Meshack Mbangula said: “If there were no open wells, we would not have zama zamas.

    “We need to transform the sector and decriminalize it. If the sector is legalized and secured, it can employ thousands of people and contribute to South Africa’s economy. This can help reduce poverty, unemployment and crime

    “You can’t stop people from going down there (to abandoned mines) because they’re risking their lives to make sure they have food on the table.”

    Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

    For more stories like this, check out our news page.

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