(The Post News)– The South African government is facing criticism for its clampdown towards illegal miners that cut off food and water to hundreds of miners underground. Mametlwe Sebei, a trade union leader, said the police attempted to force the miners up to the surface in August by removing a pulley system used to deliver food and water supplies to them.
Sebei said some miners had died crawling through flooded tunnels in an attempt to reach shafts that would have allowed them to climb out. Meanwhile, national spokesperson of the South African police, Athlenda Mathe, denied Sebei’s allegations, stating the police had never prevented anyone from exiting the mines by blocking them.
Moreover, on Thursday, the South African police confirmed the end of a rescue operation launched on Monday in compliance with an issued court order. A total of 246 people have been rescued alive. Some were brought to the surface undernourished and disoriented. Despite their dire health conditions, survivors were immediately arrested for illegal mining and immigration. More than 100 people are believed to have died from starvation and dehydration while underground. The state continues to face criticism from the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) for allowing miners “to starve to death in the depths of the earth.”
“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,” it said in a statement. According to cameras sent down to sweep the area, there are no more survivors or bodies in the multilevel mine. This signifies the end of a months-long standoff between South African authorities and illegal miners trapped in an abandoned mine.
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