‘Massacre’: Did South Africa starve dozens of captured miners to death? | Human rights news

A months-long standoff between South African authorities and illegal miners trapped in an abandoned mine in the town of Stilfontein ended this week with at least 78 people killed – possibly from starvation, rights groups say.

On Thursday, South African police confirmed that they had completed the rescue operation launched on Monday following a court order. Authorities said there were no survivors or bodies in the deep multi-layered mine, according to cameras sent to search the area.

A total of 246 survivors were rescued, many of whom looked emaciated and emaciated.

Rights groups criticized the government for failing to prevent what they called a “massacre” after security officials denied food and other essential supplies to the miners for several weeks and delayed a rescue operation.

Here’s what you need to know about the months-long shutdown and complicated rescue operation:

What happened?

As of September, it is believed that hundreds – possibly thousands – of suspected illegal miners tucked away in the vast network of tunnels of the Stilfontein mine without adequate food and water, after the police surrounded the mine without warning and prevented the flow of supplies.

The Stilfontein mine in the North West Province consists of a number of shafts or entrances several kilometers apart underground. Police sealed off some of the exits and claimed the miners could exit through others, but activists said the entrances were too far away and police actually trapped the men.

Although the miners’ families and community members pleaded for an official rescue mission, the authorities refused. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the aim was to “drive them out with smoke”. The statement drew criticism from human rights groups who warned of possible mass death as several days passed without the miners receiving food.

A court order in October finally forced police to allow community members to send some food and pull some miners into the shafts with ropes. At the time, the authorities estimated the number of miners at between 350 and 400.

Several people were rescued in sporadic and slow attempts by community members using ropes. In November, authorities said they would begin evaluating the possibility of an assisted evacuation using a cage after the body was sent on ropes.

Civil rights groups sued the government in January after videos emerged showing piles of dead bodies at the mine. Recently rescued miners revealed in court filings that conditions underground forced people to eat cockroaches and human flesh and that some people who tried to escape fell to their deaths.

Last week, a judge ordered the police to rescue all the miners. On Monday, a specialized mine rescue company began lowering a small cage down the shaft. Two members of the community voluntarily climbed down the shaft because police officials claimed it would not be safe to do so.

A total of 324 people were recovered, including survivors and dead bodies. Some families say they are still searching for their loved ones.

Thandeka Zinzi’s brother Tom was in the mine but was not seen. “This is a very difficult moment for us,” she told Al Jazeera as she tried to reach the scene.

What is the problem with illegal mining in South Africa?

Unofficial miners, locally known as “Zama Zamaz”or hustlers, comb through some 6,000 former working gold mines in search of deposits of gold or other precious metals. Sites are either officially closed or mining is stopped because they are considered unsafe or unsustainable. In other cases, informal miners target functioning mines.

Operations like these have been around for decades and cost South Africa $1 billion a year in lost revenue. They are carried out almost entirely by poor, undocumented people from neighboring countries. So far, in the Stilfontein case, officials have said the majority are from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, with a few from South Africa.

The Zama Zamas have a bad reputation in the country and are often considered criminals. Officials say illegally the trade is controlled by criminal groups who fight each other in gang wars or attack the police. Often these crime bosses also exploit the miners or traffic people into forced labor in the mine.

To get some gold, miners travel thousands of kilometers into old, unstable shafts and use basic materials such as picks and buckets to extract the gold ore. They often remain underground for months and rely on the help of outside contractors who, for a fee, pull them out with ropes and send them supplies such as food, water and cigarettes.

Why didn’t the South African government act sooner?

South African police spokesman Athlende Mathe said on Wednesday that the recorded deaths were not the fault of the police.

“The Klays, the ones behind these operations, are the ones who should be held accountable,” she said.

Officials also blamed Buffelsfontein Gold Mine (BGM), which owns the rights to the Stilfontein mine, saying it should have secured the mines and ensured the intruders were removed.

In September, at the start of the operation, authorities said they would wait until all the miners were out of the mine before arresting them. Their crackdown was part of a joint police-military operation called “Close the Hole” or “Wala Umgodi” in Zulu, which was launched in December 2023.

The operation involves closing the shafts or entrances to the mines, cutting off provisions from the outside, and forcing the miners out of the ground. Officials said more than 1,000 miners walked out of mines in several towns during the operation, and that explosives, firearms and more than $2 million in cash were seized.

A group of 14 miners, including a teenager, escaped from an unsealed shaft at the Stilfontein mine in November. People said they walked for hours to get there. One man told Al Jazeera at the time that the people he left behind were dying, and that “some are already dead.” Another added that the “boss” in the shaft tried to prevent them from leaving with a gun.

However, police officials doubled down on their refusal to launch a rescue operation, insisting that the escape proved the miners were not in trouble and could have got out on their own. Activists pointed out that it would take some people days to reach the open shafts, and that too many had already weakened without food and water.

What did the human rights groups say?

Human rights groups and community members condemned the government’s slowness to act, blaming the police and government ministers for the deaths of 78 miners.

“We are not very excited,” Mzukusi Jam, a community activist, told Al Jazeera. They did not act voluntarily, they were pressured.

Miners’ rights group MACUA (Mining Affected Communities United in Action) said the crisis was a “massacre, if not genocide” because the government was “intent” on using starvation as a means of driving out miners who violated their livelihoods.

“The fact is that their calculated actions, as they responded to the humanitarian crisis, resulted in mass deaths,” Magnificent Mndebele spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

Officials failed to consider conditions underground before launching Vala Umgodi, he added, and when the facts were presented, police ignored the human rights implications, while state agencies used delay tactics for two months.

The group, one of many that approached authorities several times during the months-long standoff, was instrumental in securing the court order that led to this week’s rescue operation.

In its petition to the courts, MACUA presented testimony from recently rescued miners who said conditions underground by October were so dire that some were eating toothpaste. The men added that a fierce fight broke out when authorities allowed community members to send food because there was not enough food.

“We cannot become a society where we allow police officers to facilitate the death or starvation and dehydration of people, regardless of the activities they do underground,” Jessica Lawrence, of Lawyers for Human Rights, he said on Wednesday.

Separately, MACUA’s Mndebele also accused government officials of exploiting the anti-immigrant sentiment already rife in South Africa.

“Because they are illegal miners and foreigners, they don’t deserve any human rights – that was the state’s approach,” he said. “To be frank, the state was xenophobic and racist.”

What’s next?

Officials said the rescued miners would be treated in hospitals and would face trial.

Members of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the country’s second largest political party that is part of the ruling coalition, are calling for an investigation into the crisis. The party was the main opposition party before the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost its results in last year’s elections.

On Thursday, party spokesman James Lorimer said the prosecution had sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for a “full and transparent” investigation into the “disaster”. The state prosecutor also said the role of government agencies, as well as mine owners and operators, should be investigated.

“The DA is calling on President Ramaphosa to act quickly, while witnesses are still available, to ensure that this investigation is carried out. A transparent investigation will help uncover the full extent of the crisis and prevent future tragedies of this nature,” added Lorimer.