Gauteng High Court Rules Against Call for Aid for Zama Zamas at Stilfontein Mine, SA Welcomes Ruling
- The application for relief for scores of illegal miners underground at the Stilfontein mine has been dismissed
- The Gauteng High Court made the ruling after granting an interim court order in response to a civil group's application
- Rescue operations have begun to extract zama zamas, who, according to law enforcement, have refused to resurface
Source: Twitter
TSHWANE — The Gauteng High Court in Tshwane ruled on the Society for the Protection of our Constitution's (SPOC) application for relief for scores of illegal miners at Stilfontein.
Hundreds to thousands of zama zamas have remained underground at the disused gold mine in Klerksdorp, North-West, for over a month.
SAPS welcomes high court ruling
Reports suggested that they have refused to resurface since allegedly trespassing and going down a sealed-off mine shaft due to imminent arrests.
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Briefly News reported that over 1,000 illegal miners resurfaced between 18 October and 5 November 2024 amid Operation Vala Umgodi — a crackdown on illicit mining by a task team comprising the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) — in the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality.
This resulted in routes being blocked off, used to deliver food to the zama zamas by those complicit in their activities.
However, the SPOC, in its application, argued they were trapped and were deliberately being denied food and water.
Subsequently, on 16 November, the court granted an interim order ordering law enforcement to unblock the shaft so the illegal miners could resurface.
After initially postponing the hearing two days earlier, the court heard the SPOC's application on Thursday, 21 November.
SAPS welcomed the dismissed application.
"It sought to compel various government departments, including SAPS, to provide emergency disaster relief to [the] illegal miners underground.
"Namely, food, water, medical assistance [antiretroviral therapy (ART), blankets, and retrieval from underground," said national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
North-West Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Community Safety and Transport Management Wessels Morweng told Briefly News on 18 November that retrieval operations were launched to extract those below the surface.
It came amid growing speculation that the unknown number of illegal miners were too weak to do so independently.
"Law enforcement has not blocked any shaft [or prevented] illegal miners from exiting, evidenced in the 1239 that have resurfaced [since 18 October. The rest are simply refusing to resurface to avoid arrest," said Mathe.
About 14 more people emerged on 24 November. They were arrested and charged and are expected to appear in court soon.
The relevant authorities will provide ongoing updates on the rescue operations.
Locals nod to court's ruling
Citizens following the developments at the Stilfontein mine broke out in loud chatter over the latest in the saga.
Many praised the court's decision and slammed the alleged criminality as the situation unravelled. Briefly News looks at the heated commentary.
@Ketso28 assessed:
"The person fighting for them isn’t really a humanitarian, but someone with [a] motive ... [but] thank you to the law."
@Nduuh_Masondo offered:
"Good news to start the week."
@jazzlinjay aired:
"For once, the courts stand with South Africans."
@NtateWilliams fired:
"Who is fighting for them? Arrest that person."
@zinn_le noted:
"This is good news; we cannot aid criminals. Continue to smoke them out. These people are so ruthless that they even use child labour in their criminal acts."
Teen, 14, among resurfaced illegal miners
In recent developments, Briefly News reported that a 14-year-old boy was among a dozen illegal miners who recently emerged at the Stilfontein mine.
According to Mathe, they resurfaced at night, believing the police were no longer deployed, and attempted to escape back underground.
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Source: Briefly News
