Trapped illegal gold miners confront police in South Africa

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Local communities have begun delivering emergency supplies to illegal gold miners trapped in abandoned mines by a police blockade in South Africa in a tense standoff that has revealed a surge in illegal mining amid widespread economic despair in the country.

The miners – estimated to number anywhere from several hundred to several thousand – have been hiding underground for weeks at the abandoned Buffelsfontein mine in Stilfontein, east of Johannesburg, after police launched a “smoke out” operation to arrest them in late October.

Lawyers warn that the remaining miners are dangerously short of supplies, and the High Court in Pretoria on Saturday issued an interim order directing police to lift the blockade ahead of a hearing on Tuesday, clearing the way for emergency aid.

More than 1,000 illegal miners, known as zama zamasvoluntarily came to the surface and were arrested since the beginning of the blockade, and the decomposing body of one miner was also recovered. Negotiators said the remaining miners may be too weak to come to the surface.

The harsh tactics caused controversy South Africasupporters call it a much-needed fight against rampant crime, while opponents say zama zama mining is a sign of a failing economy in which one in three people cannot find work.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, a minister in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government, said on Wednesday that the authorities would show no mercy. “We don’t send aid to criminals,” she said. “We are going to smoke them out. They will come out.”

But Yasmin Omar, a lawyer for the non-profit group Society for the Defense of Our Constitution, which appealed to the High Court in Pretoria, said the government’s line was inhumane.

“Why aren’t ministers asking the deeper questions, like why are these mines still open and why are so many impoverished people going down there?” she said.

Omar said the court ruling means “the community will have the right to dump food and basic necessities for people underground.”

Some 6,000 mines have closed since apartheid, when towns like Stilfontein helped turn South Africa into one of the world’s biggest gold producers. Many of them have been captured by the thousands over the past decade zama zamas – Zulu for “risk” – who sells what he collects on the black market.

Many residents of the nearby community blame the government for failing to provide them with an alternative, and in recent days have gathered around the mine shafts, waving placards reading “Free our brothers” and “Smoke the ANC”, a reference to the country’s ruling party.

“They didn’t go there because they wanted to, but out of desperation,” said community member Nozipho Ntuli, who told local broadcaster eNCA that her husband had been underground for months. “We are starving, and we have no one to turn to for help. They saw others getting something out of it and thought they could do the same.”

Local police said the court order would not stop them from doing their job, promising that healthy miners who came to the surface “will be processed and detained” and those who are sick “will be taken to hospital under police protection”.

But Neil Froneman, chief executive of publicly traded mining company Sibanye-Stillwater, whose mines have also been targeted zama zamassaid police action was taken long ago.

“The government has taken too long to respond to this crisis,” Froneman told the Financial Times. “The authorities must deal with the “thieves in law”. This is not a case of communities trying to make a living. This is brutal organized crime.”