Seventeen more illegal miners have resurfaced at an abandoned mine in Stilfontein, near Klerksdorp in the North West.
According to the provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, the miners resurfaced from two shafts and are being processed by authorities.
“Of the 17 illegal miners, 14 resurfaced from Margaret shaft and three at Shaft No 10.
The fourteen illegal miners are foreign nationals from Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique,” said Mokgwabone.
The miners said some of their colleagues will surface on Friday, while others are too weak to resurface from the shafts.
Moreover, they recounted difficult conditions underground, which include starvation and dehydration.
“Some of the food and water that were sent by the police recently, were confiscated by people who are in charge down there (underground), and they have guns.
They are mostly from Lesotho and are feared by other miners.
We were fed only 500ml of Mageu a day.
Sometimes we had to mix water with Colgate just to have something to swallow,” said one of the miners.
He said they started their journey to resurface on Wednesday and four more miners would soon resurface.
To date, more than 1 300 illegal miners have resurfaced at the mine, as police continue with Operation Vala Umgodi in the area.
Meanwhile, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and his deputy Polly Boshielo are expected to return to Stilfontein on Friday, “to obtain a progress report on measures of the task team established two weeks ago, and to also engage families of the miners.”
