South African authorities said Tuesday that police had pulled dozens of dead miners from a closed gold mine where they had been working illegally until a lockdown temporarily cut off access to food, water and other supplies.
As of Tuesday evening, police reported recovering 51 bodies and rescuing 106 miners who were still alive. The death toll is likely to rise further as the government continues a cautious operation begun on Monday to remove all miners.
The move by authorities after months of stalemate drew criticism from human rights groups but praise from some South Africans who view illegal miners as dangerous criminals.
As of Tuesday, it was unclear how many miners remained underground, but activists and authorities estimate there could be hundreds.
The blockade of the mine, near Stilfontein, a town about two hours south of Johannesburg, was part of a nationwide campaign to root out illegal miners, known locally as Zama Zamas.
In an effort to force miners aboveground near Stilfontein, officers last year guarded all known access points to the mine, which are used to transport supplies underground, according to images distributed by police. They began cutting off supplies by pulling up and cutting ropes.
Recovery efforts began this week amid reports of dire conditions at the mine, which is more than a mile deep, following a court challenge by civil society groups.
Cellphone video of underground conditions released by advocacy group Mining Affected Communities United in Action shows dozens of corpses wrapped in plastic and the bony, emaciated remains of miners who were still alive. My body was visible. The group said the video was taken by one of the miners last week.
“It's brutal,” said mining activist Meshack Mbangula. “It's cruel to Zamazamas and their communities.”
As South Africa's mining industry shrank and mine owners began abandoning unprofitable sites, Zama Zamas began digging in the remaining areas without legal permission.
The miners have drawn harsh criticism from some South Africans, who accuse them of perpetuating criminal networks of illegal metals trading and fueling crime in the areas where they operate. Many of them are illegal immigrants, so they also have bad intentions.
South African authorities have said they believe the miners near Stilfontein are choosing to remain underground to avoid arrest, but this claim is contradicted by the fact that some routes out of the mine have been cut off. Human rights groups are objecting to this.
“We are not sending aid to criminals,” Khumbudzo Nshabeni, a minister in the president's office, said at a press conference last year. “We are going to smoke them out. Criminals should not be helped. They will be persecuted.”
The controversy surrounding Stilfontein cuts into deeper questions about South Africa's history of wealth inequality and mining exploitation.
Mining was at the heart of the apartheid-era economy, with white-owned and foreign-owned companies reaping huge profits while the majority of blacks were relegated to simple, low-wage labor. Today, that imbalance still largely persists. Although some black-owned businesses entered the industry, the wealth generally remained in the hands of a relatively small elite.
