As Mzwandile Mkwayi was lowered into a South African mine in a red metal cage attached to a crane above ground, the first thing that hit him was the smell.
“I’ll tell you something,” he told the BBC, “those bodies really stank.”
When he came home later that day, he told his wife that he could not eat the meat she had cooked.
“That’s because when I talked to the miners, they told me that some of them have to eat something else [people] inside the mine because they couldn’t find food at all. And they also ate cockroaches,” he said in a telephone conversation from his home.
Allegations that the miners resorted to eating human flesh in order to survive were also made by other miners who were rescued in December, in statements submitted to the high court.
Mkwayi, an ex-convict, known locally as Shasha, lives in the town of Khuma which was close to the abandoned mine at Stilfontein. The 36-year-old, who served seven years in prison for robbery, voluntarily went down to help with the rescue operation.
“I am being rehabilitated by the correctional service and volunteered because people in our community were looking for help for their children and brothers.
“The rescue company said they didn’t have anyone willing to come down. So my friend Mandla and I agreed to volunteer so we could help our brothers resurface and retrieve the dead bodies.”
But even though he wanted to help, the 25-minute journey down the 2 km (1.2 mile) deep shaft filled him with dread.
The crane would occasionally stop and go, leaving him hanging in the dark. When he went down into the mine, he was shocked by what he saw.
“There were many bodies, more than 70 bodies and about 200 or more people who were dehydrated.
“I felt very weak when I saw them, it was painful to see. But Mandla and I decided that we had to be strong and not show them how we felt so we could motivate them.”
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They were heroically welcomed by miners who had been waiting for help for months.
“They were very, very happy,” he says.
The miners remained there following a nationwide police operation to stop illegal mining at the abandoned sites, which were closed as the industry – once the backbone of the country’s economy – shrank.
It was no longer profitable for mining multinationals to operate in many places, but the promise of gold deposits still to be found was a magnet for many desperate people – especially undocumented migrants.
Thousands of wells were abandoned.
In November, police stepped up efforts at the Buffelsfontein mine in Stilfontein, surrounding the shaft entrance and refusing food and water.
Before the rescue operation began on Monday, the local community tried to take matters into their own hands by lowering a rope down the shaft to try and pull some of the men out.
They also sent messages and told the miners that help was coming.
“So when we got there, they were already waiting for the crane. Now when they see us, they see us as their presidents, as their messiahs: people who came from outside the hole to help them resurface.”
Police say the illegal miners could always go out on their own, but they refused because they were afraid of being arrested. But Mkwayi disagrees: “It’s a lie that people didn’t want to come out. Those people were desperate for help, they were dying.”
While in the mine on Tuesday, the BBC saw dozens of rescued men.
They looked thin, their bones showing through their clothes. Some could barely walk and had to be assisted by medical staff.
In the statements they submitted to the court, the illegal miners vividly describe the slow and painful death of their peers. It is said that many died of hunger.
“From September to October 2024, the lack of even basic food was absolute, and survival became a daily struggle against hunger,” one miner was quoted as saying.
Mkwayi says the people he rescued were so weak that a rescue cage designed only to carry seven healthy adults could hold 13 of them.
“They were very dehydrated and lost weight, so we managed to fit more in the cage, because they wouldn’t have survived two more days down in the hole. They would have died if we didn’t get them out as soon as possible.”
The volunteers were also in charge of carrying out the dead bodies.
“The rescue service gave us bags and told us to put the bodies in them and transfer them to the cage, which we did with the help of some miners.”
The rescue operation was initially supposed to last at least a week, but after only three days the volunteers said that no one remained underground.
Authorities sent a camera down the shaft to do a final sweep. They say the mine will now be permanently sealed.
But the experience had a profound effect on Mkwayi.
At one point during the call he asks for the question to be repeated, explaining that his hearing has been damaged since going down the mine, possibly due to the pressure.
But the hardest impact was what he witnessed.
“I have to tell you that I am traumatized. I will never forget the sight of these people for the rest of my life.”
For activists and unions that help the community, the deaths of 87 people in the mine represent a “massacre” perpetrated by the authorities.
The use of the emotive word has drawn comparisons with the police shot dead 34 striking miners in Marikanasome 150 km (93 mi) away from Stilfontein, in 2012.
But this time no triggers were pulled. Instead, many men appear to have starved to death.
The authorities reject the idea that they are responsible.
The government launched a crackdown on illegal mining in December 2023 through Operation Vala Umgodi (which means “close the hole” in isiZulu).
Abandoned mines were taken over by gangs, often led by ex-employees, who sold what they found on the black market.
People were involved in this illegal trade, either forcibly or voluntarily, and forced to spend months underground mining for minerals. The government says illegal mining cost the South African economy $3.2bn (£2.6bn) in 2024 alone.
As part of the police operation, entry points to various abandoned mines were blocked, along with food and water supplies, in an attempt to drive out the illegal miners, known locally as zama zamas (which translates to “take the opportunity”).
While Vala Umgodi was largely successful in other provinces, the old Buffelsfontein gold mine presented a unique challenge.
Before the police operation, most miners could only go underground through a makeshift system of pulleys operated by people on the surface.
But then they left the top of the mine shaft when security officials arrived in large numbers in August, leaving those in the mine stranded.
Community members then came to the rescue, pulling several people out using ropes, but it was a long and arduous process.
Other difficult and dangerous exits were available and in total nearly 2,000 resurfaced – most arrested and still in police custody.
Why the others did not come out is not clear – perhaps they were too weak or threatened by gang members in the mine – but they were left in desperate circumstances.
Of the 87 dead, only two have been identified, police said Thursday, explaining that the fact that many were undocumented migrants made the process difficult.
“We think the government has blood on its hands,” Magnificent Mndebele of the mining-affected community United in Action (Macua) told the BBC.
He claimed that the miners were not warned what was going to happen before the police operation began.
Over the past two months, Macua has been at the forefront of various court battles launched to force the government to first allow supplies and then undertake a rescue operation.
The government’s accusation echoes earlier statements by families who said authorities killed their loved ones.
They have taken a hard line since the operation intensified. In November, one minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, made the now infamous statement during a press briefing that he would “smoke them out”.
The state refused to allow food or anyone to help extract the miners, relenting only after several successful court appeals.
In November, small portions of instant corn and water made their way down the shaft, but in a court statement one of the miners said it was not enough for the hundreds of people below, many of whom were too weak to even chew and swallow them.
More food was delivered in December, but again it could not sustain the people.
Given that the operation to retrieve the men and the bodies lasted only three days, Mr. It is difficult for the Mndebele to understand why this could not have been done earlier, when it was clear that there was a problem.
“We’re disappointed with our government, frankly, because this help came too late.”
Although the government is yet to officially respond to these allegations, the police have vowed to continue with wider operations to clear unused landmines in the country until May this year.
Speaking to reporters in Stilfontein on Tuesday, Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe was unapologetic. He said that the Government will intensify the fight against illegal mining, which he called a crime and an “attack on the economy”.
On Thursday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was somewhat more conciliatory.
“I understand and accept that this is an emotional issue. Everyone wants to judge … but it would help us all as South Africans to wait until the pathologists have done and finished their work,” he said.
The police defended their actions, saying that supplying the miners with food would “enable the development of crime”.
Illegal miners have been accused of encouraging crime in the communities where they work.
A number of stories have been published in the local media that connect zama zamas with various rapes and murders.
But for Mkwayi, who put his own safety on the line to help the miners, the people at the Stilfontein mine were just trying to make a living.
“People were rappelling down 2km and risking their lives to put food on the table for their families.”
He said he wants the government to issue licenses to artisanal miners who are being forced to go to mines that are not being used because of South Africa’s high unemployment rate.
“If your kids are hungry, you won’t think twice about going downstairs because you have to feed them. You’ll risk your life to put food on the table.”
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