Stilfontein: Teens detail starvation, assault
Three teenagers from Mozambique were among the 17 suspected illegal miners detained and processed by North West police on Thursday.
The group emerged from two separate shafts adding to the more than 30 that had come to the surface since Sunday.
They repeated earlier claims by other miners, who resurfaced in recent weeks, that there were ringleaders underground who confiscated the food that was supplied by the police.
The miners claim they had been prevented from exiting the shaft by heavily armed men who they described as “Basotho”.
Over 1,000 suspected illegal miners have found their way to the surface over the past three weeks, with no clear indication of when the government’s rescue operation will resume.
READ: 96 undocumented children among arrested Stilfontein miners
Volunteers from the community brought 12 people up to the surface, including one dead body.
Images of the three miners, who waited in the blistering Stilfontein heat after emerging from Shaft 10, painted a picture of hardship and suffering.
The tattered clothes were muddied and wet, while the broken skin on their hands and feet bore the evidence of the harsh conditions underground.
The trio, aged between 16 and 19, said they started making their way to the exit on Wednesday.
One of the teenagers told the media at the mine that he was recruited from as far as Alexandra township with the promise of an odd job.
But, he said, upon arrival he was sent forced down the shaft and handed a hammer and chisel, before being ordered to dig for gold.
One of the miners said he had been underground since June this year, and when the food supply ran out, he survived on a bitter mix of vinegar and spice.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu announced he would be visiting the area, nearly three weeks after appointing a task team to oversee the rescue of the unknown number of miners still underground.
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