by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SOUTH Africa’s crackdown on illegal mining has lurched into a dilemma.
This as thousands of miners remain trapped underground in an abandoned mine northwest of the country, amid fears some might have lost their lives and others too frail to ascend to the surface.
It is also suspected they are alive but fear the possibility of arrest and possible deportation.
The quandary for the government is that it is obliged to provide rescue services.
But, by rescuing the illegal miners, the government would be emboldening the artisanal miners to continue with their illegal operations knowing if they run into trouble in the belly of the earth, the government will save them.
Still, by adopting a position not to rescue the miners and cutting off supplies of basic commodities to them, critics have accused the government of failing on its pledge to uphold human rights.
The centre of the controversy around the police’s Operation Vala Umgodi (Close the Pit), initiated at the end of last year, is the Stilfontein Mine in the North West province.
More than 4 000 artisanal miners are reportedly underground after resisting orders by authorities to come up to the surface.
That would pave the way for their arrest and possible deportation of these miners called zama-zamas (chance takers).
Stilfontein is among an estimated 6 000 derelict mines in South Africa.
While such mining is illegal, another dimension to this is that most of these individuals engaged in these activities are undocumented foreign nationals. The new coalition government in South Africa has embarked on a blitz of illegal immigration.
Over 1 000 individuals emerged to the surface and were swiftly arrested. Volunteers in recent days saved 12 individuals, one deceased.
Some miners spend weeks and even months underground because they receive basic commodities from suppliers but after police sealed off the mine, supplies have been disrupted.
Thus, the state of the health of those underground remains unclear if it is a resistance to orders by authorities to come to the surface. Volunteers have struggled to attain permission to intervene and the government has instead it would not be embarking on rescue efforts.
“We are not sending help to criminals,” said Khumbudzo Ntshaveni, Minister in the Presidency.
She was addressing the media on the outcomes of the latest meeting of the cabinet of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped. Criminals must be persecuted,” Ntshavheni said.
It is believed she meant criminals must be prosecuted but her sentiments have sparked a human rights storm.
Mining unions have slammed the government for such utterances by the minister.
They argue classifying the artisanal miners as criminals was reminiscent of the police killing of 34 miners striking for wage increases in 2012.
The incident occurred in Marikana, also in the North West.
It tainted the image of Ramaphosa, then a shareholder and director in the British-owned Lonmin mine, before he rejoined active politics.
The High Court in the capital, Pretoria, this past weekend ordered police to allow emergency workers to gain access to the shaft where the miners are believed to be trapped.
It dissuaded the law enforcers from blocking the mine’s exit.
The South African Human Rights Commission is reportedly probing possible violations by the police.
Zama-zamas’ image meanwhile is soiled.
Besides illegal immigration issues, they are blamed for a surge in violent crime in the areas where they operate.
– CAJ News