The South African Police Service confirmed the deaths of at least 78 people on Wednesday following the end of a rescue operation at an abandoned mine where miners, cut off from food and water, had been working illegally.
The announcement relayed that the bodies of 78 miners had been retrieved, and a total of 246 “alive illegal miners have been retrieved and arrested” from the abandoned mine in Stilfontein, North West Province since the rescue operation began on Monday.
In December 2023, police launched Operation Vala Umgodi to address the problem of illegal mining. Authorities had cut off food and water supplies to miners in the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine since August of last year to force the miners to resurface so they could be arrested.
The Pretoria High Court in December 2024 granted an interim order permitting community members and charitable organizations to send essential aid to the miners and eventually ordered a rescue operation earlier this month. In a statement, the South African Federation of Trade Unions asserted, “These miners, many of them undocumented and desperate workers from Mozambique, and other Southern African countries, were left to die in one of the most horrific displays of state wilful negligence in recent history.”
In a Parliament press release from November, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Mikateko Mahalaule, identified the number of illegal miners as an insight into “an endemic criminal syndicate characterized by the blatant disregard for the laws of the country that the state cannot afford to give in.” The South Africa Human Rights Commission’s investigation into Operation Vala Umgodi in November condemned criminality; however, it emphasized the need to “adhere to human rights principles and constitutional imperatives, including the preservation of life, human dignity, the avoidance of inhumane treatment, and the principle of being innocent until proven guilty.”
The Democratic Alliance (DA), a partner in South Africa’s ruling coalition, urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to “immediately establish an independent Commission of Inquiry into all aspects of what happened at Buffelsfontein mine.” The DA, who had previously advocated for stronger measures against illegal mining, questioned “why the situation was allowed to get so badly out of hand,” proposing that “those who have been derelict in their duty can be sanctioned” to prevent similar future occurrences.
The practice of illegal mining occurs in abandoned mines, with the miners entering abandoned shafts and operating underground for several days in dangerous conditions. The Miners Council of South Africa identifies the range of negative social and economic impacts of the practice, noting a link between illegal mining and organized crime. The council notes growth in illegal mining “could be attributed to the combination of a difficult socio-economic climate and limited resources at the disposal of law enforcement agencies.” The DA statement echoes this, noting, “Many low-level illegal miners are simply trying to scratch out a living and only performing an activity that is not even a crime under current law.”
