Fourteen illegal miners, including a 14-year-old boy, have resurfaced at an abandoned shaft 10 which is linked to shaft 11
in Stilfontein near Klerksdorp in the North West.
All the fourteen miners are Mozambican nationals, and police said others ran back to the shaft when they noticed them.
Police said the miners resurfaced during the night, thinking that law enforcement authorities would not be on site.
“It just goes to show that these two shafts are linked, and that no one is trapped.
They can actually come out on their own.
They’re just refusing to resurface because they’re avoiding arrest,” said police spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
She said the illegal miners were interviewed, and informed police about the presence of heavily armed men underground.
“It just goes to show that our intelligence is at work.
They do confirm that the food that was sent down was confiscated by these heavily armed gangs.
They’re not giving it out to other illegal miners, because they want to continue with illegal mining operations,” explained Mathe.
The suspects are currently in police custody, adding that their operation at the mine would continue.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola has welcomed the judgement handed down in the North Gauteng High Court which dismissed the application brought forward by the Society for the Protection of our Constitution.
The application sought amongst others to compel various government departments including SAPS to provide all necessary emergency disaster relief to illegal miners underground by providing food, water, medical aid, blankets and any such medical relief necessary.
The application also compelled government departments including SAPS to extract the alleged trapped miners from underground.