Volunteers say Stilfontein shaft littered with body parts of miners who fell and died while trying to resurface

The Stilfontein Crisis Committee says even though all surviving illegal miners have seemingly been rescued from the disused mine shaft, and bodies of 78 deceased miners were brought to the surface, there are many dismembered body parts still in the deep mine shaft.

IOL reported on Wednesday night that a total of 246 illegal miners have been retrieved and arrested since the State-sponsored rescue mission started earlier this week at shaft 11 in Stilfontein, North West.

Police said of the 246 miners, 128 are from Mozambique, 80 are Zimbabweans, and five are South Africans.

On Thursday, Christopher Rutledge of the Stilfontein Crisis Committee, and also a member of the Mining Affected Communities United in Action told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that the mine shaft contains numerous body parts of deceased miners.

“The volunteers confirmed that they are no longer able to locate any persons who are alive below, but they have also indicated that there is a number of what they described as body parts which they cannot retrieve," he said.

“It looks like, in attempts to escape the shaft, some miners tried to come up and in the process of falling down, their bodies were disintegrated. It has been very difficult for them to retrieve those body parts. There are also other parts of the shaft where other bodies have fallen down, too far for rescue operations.

“At the moment, it is the 78 (bodies) that came through the MRS rescue service operation and a further nine bodies that the community recovered through their own efforts, bringing the total to about 87 confirmed bodies," said Rutledge.

He said there are many people who have vanished without a trace.

“Given the attitude of the State, we are very unlikely to retrieve those remains,” he said.

On Monday, IOL reported that activists in North West have roundly condemned government’s slow intervention to rescue hundreds of illegal miners who became trapped after police descended on the area as part of operation Vala Umgodi.

Tensions between the State, activists and community members in Stilfontein have been running high, as the community members demanded that government rescues the miners. On the other hand, government insisted that the miners were not trapped but were simply refusing to come to the surface, fearing arrest.

North West spokesperson for South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco), Mzukisi Jam on Monday said government had wanted the miners to perish underground.

“We are here to assist, that we finally get these people to resurface alive. We can never say thank you to the State for finally coming forth. There is nothing to be happy about here, where we are standing.

"But we appreciate that some of the families would get closure, and we are also going to make sure that those who have lost their loved ones at least get the opportunity to bury them,” Jam addressed journalists at Stilfontein.

“We should applaud the State for their initial plan to smoke these people out, it has worked. Thank you very much,” Jam said sarcastically.

jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za

IOL