South Africa's brutal response to illegal miners
Last week, more than 1,000 illegal miners were forced to resurface from abandoned mine shafts in the North West province when law enforcement officials cut off their food and water supply.
Marché Arends
Operation Vala Umgodi, a joint effort by police and the army to combat illegal mining in South Africa, appears to have a new motto: By any means necessary. In the most recent escalation by the task team, this meant starvation and dehydration.
Last week, more than 1,000 illegal miners were forced to resurface from abandoned mine shafts in the North West province when law enforcement officials cut off their food and water supply. Many had been underground for years, and some who resurfaced are as young as 14.
Artisanal miners working illegally in abandoned or discontinued mines are known colloquially as zama zamas (“take a chance” in isiZulu). Some of the miners are South African but most are from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho and Mozambique.
Illegal mining is increasing rapidly and reportedly costs the country billions of dollars every year. Last December, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered some 3,000 military staff to join the fight against these activities, which sit at the nexus of organised crime and gang violence.
Government officials, including North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi, are lauding the latest operation as a great success. Local activists disagree, saying the miners are literally trapped by financial desperation.
Community leaders in the towns of Stilfontein and Orkney have been horrified by the scenes of people, their weak bodies covered in mud, streaming from the ground. They say the crackdown amounts to a humanitarian crisis and have sought intervention from the South African Human Rights Council.
The number of miners still below the surface is unknown, and it is expected that, when faced with imprisonment, some will not re-emerge at all.