Stilfontein – Twenty-one illegal miners, including nine Zimbabwean and twelve Mozambican nationals, emerged from the depths of abandoned mines in Stilfontein on Monday, 2 December, their bodies bearing the brutal marks of their subterranean ordeal.
Their harrowing accounts paint a grim picture of starvation, violence, and death within the shafts, prompting renewed calls for humanitarian intervention.
The miners, who resurfaced at Margaret Shaft (17) and Shaft 10 (4), presented a scene of desperation. Four miners from Shaft 10 emerged wearing only trousers, while three others were barefoot, their legs and backs scarred with injuries, and their palms blistered and bleeding from clinging to a steel rod during their arduous climb to the surface.
One miner poignantly stated, “We last had water on Friday morning. Things are bad at Shaft 10. I’d rather die here than as an illegal miner underground.”
This latest emergence follows the surfacing of 11 other miners, including teenagers, on Saturday, 30 November. Since August, over 1300 illegal miners have resurfaced, and authorities anticipate further emergences in the coming days. The conditions described by those who have escaped are horrifying. Desperation, water reaching shoulder height, cramped spaces, and extreme heat are just some of the challenges they endured.
Four Mozambican miners, barefoot and clad in tattered shorts, expressed relief at their arrest by police, stating they had been under the oppressive control of heavily armed Basotho overseers for months. These men, who fled Shaft 11 on Friday evening, claimed approximately 700 miners remain trapped in the shaft. Their story began with betrayal, as they recounted how a fellow Mozambican, whom they considered a brother, lured them to South Africa with promises of legitimate mining work.
“On our arrival in Vereeniging, we were driven by car to Stilfontein by our brother from Mozambique,” one miner told News24.
“He took us to a house in Stilfontein where our clothes and shoes were taken. We were given dirty short pants, old T-shirts and new gumboots. We were tied up by a group of heavily armed men who threatened to kill us if we wanted to flee. We were then lowered into the shaft with ropes.”
Life underground was described as relentless, with miners working around the clock under the watchful eye of their feared Basotho bosses.
Food was scarce, with the last proper meal having been three weeks prior. “After the food was lowered down at Shaft 11 three weeks ago, our bosses only gave us soft porridge with water while they ate proper and warm meals,” another miner recounted.
The desperation led some to resort to eating cockroaches and a concoction of toothpaste, vinegar, and salt.
One miner shared, “We caught cockroaches and ate them. I am not coming back to these shafts. I want to die back home in Mozambique. I regret coming to South Africa. The friend who recruited us from home lied to us, promising us the good life in South Africa.”
The miners also witnessed the death of a teenage miner from Mozambique due to starvation.
“On Wednesday, a teenager from Mozambique who entered the shaft together with us on 1 August died in our presence. His body, wrapped with white sacks, is placed near the exit at Shaft 11,” one miner stated.
This action came after the state sealed mine entrances as part of Operation Vala Umgodi, leaving families desperate to provide food and water to their loved ones. General Industries Workers Union of SA president Mametlwe Sebei highlighted the inadequacy of previous supplies: “The idea that they can survive with those little supplies for over a week… I’m sorry, you may as well say we want them dead.”
