The High Court in Pretoria, South Africa issued an interim order on Sunday allowing emergency personnel access to an abandoned mine in Stilfontein, where illegal miners have been remained from fear of prosecution, prevented from receiving civilian aid by a police blockade.

On the urgent request of the Society for the Protection of our Constitution (SAPC), the South African court ordered that the abandoned gold mine should not be blocked and that the miners should be allowed to exit. The interim order will be finalized on Tuesday, when the lawyer for SAPC, Yasmir Omar, seek orders that humanitarian aid be granted. Speaking to SABC news, Omar said:

If the government wants to take measures against illegal miners, they can do that in the normal course, but to trap people underground, to starve them and allow them to die in that fashion is inhumane. It is not what us as a new democracy should allow to happen.

The government on November 14 took drastic actions to block civilians from delivering essential supplies in an effort to compel illegal miners to resurface. The strategy to “smoke them out” has led to more than 1000 arrests so far. The move triggered the South African Human Rights Commission to commence an investigation into the actions of the South African Police Service. Omar says the government’s approach has been “in complete disregard of these people’s rights” and called on the government to respect the constitutional right to life and the right not to be tortured. “We’ve got people who are dying underground. People are dying in mass. 4500 people dying,” Omar said. One decomposed body has been recovered so far.

The South African Police Service maintains that illegal miners who resurface will receive medical care and will only be subject to immediate detainment if they are in good health.

The government has been increasingly critical of illegal mining, a crime under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28. According to the Mineral Council of South Africa, there is a link between illegal mining and international criminal syndicates. Illegal mining is hazardous for all involved and comes at a huge cost to the environment and to local economies.