6 more ‘starved’ miners emerge in Stilfontein

Six more suspected illegal miners made their up to the surface through shaft 10 just after midnight on Friday.

The men, all Mozambican nationals, said it took three days for them to reach their destination.

Muddied and bruised, one of the men said they decided to make the treacherous 12 kilometre trek from shaft 11 due to hunger.

He said they had to climb up 1.8 kilometers using girders.

Speaking fluent Sesotho, he said while they saw the food arriving underground the ‘Basotho’ bosses claimed it as their own and kept the rest of the miners on short rations.  

“We’re very hungry. When the food comes down today, it's finished next the day because there are more than 600 people underground.

“We get about 600 to 700 bags of instant porridge. But those who send it down don’t explain who it’s from; whether it’s from the government or the police. So, the Basotho men say it’s their stock. From one bag of instant porridge is rationed among six people; and even then, they decide who eats, and when.”

He said they realised that police’s anti-illicit mining police operation had begun when, in August, the food they bought from the underground shops became expensive.

“When I got here in June there was plenty of food. We could buy meat and any other food we wanted. We buy everything with the gold we mine, money doesn’t work underground.”

The miner, who said he had a family in Khuma near Klerksdorp, said he voluntarily joined illegal mining activities to make a living and pay for his children’s school fees.

According to him, some were forced in or had to pay to gain access to the shaft.

“I met some Basotho men who got me in for free, but I had to pay R30,000 to come back up to the surface when I wanted to. Thirty grams of gold equals R30 000.”

He said all mining activities had come to a halt because miners were too weak to continue working.

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