South Africa criticized for ‘horrific’ mining crackdown after 78 bodies pulled from underground

By Nimi Princewill, CNN

(CNN) — South Africa’s government is facing criticism for its clampdown on illegal mining that cut off food and water to hundreds of miners underground, after at least 78 bodies were pulled from a shaft this week.

Rescuers worked for a third day in search of survivors Wednesday, after a court ordered their rescue. A police spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon that at least 166 people had been rescued alive from the abandoned shaft. More than 100 others are believed to have died from starvation and dehydration while underground.

South Africa’s Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) described the deaths at the Stilfontein mine, located around 97 miles (156 kilometers) southwest of Johannesburg, as an “unfolding massacre.”

The union said in a statement that the miners, “many of them undocumented and desperate workers from Mozambique and other Southern African countries, were left to die in one of the most horrific displays of state willful negligence in recent history.”

The government’s handling of the situation was also called out by the Democratic Alliance (DA), which formed a coalition with the ruling ANC party last year. The DA questioned “why the situation was allowed to get so badly out of hand” while calling for investigations into what transpired at the mine.

“A government without humanity”

A video filmed by one of the miners last week showed multiple bodies wrapped in plastic in the mine. The video also showed shirtless, emaciated-looking men with protruding bones and ribs.

SAFTU said survivors who emerged from the mine resembled “walking ghosts after enduring weeks without food or water” and accused the government of acting “without humanity.”

“It is unconscionable that the South African government allowed this situation to deteriorate to such an extent. While it is true that these miners were engaged in illegal mining activities, driven by desperation and extreme poverty, their actions do not justify condemnation to death by starvation,” the union’s statement said.

Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe told reporters in November that vital supplies to those underground had been halted in a bid to force them out and put an end to illegal mining in the country, despite SAFTU’s warnings that the hardline gamble could “end in a tragedy.”

South Africa loses more than a $1 billion to illegal mining every year and has vowed a crackdown of the trade. There are an estimated 100,000 artisanal miners in the country, known locally as “zama zamas,” with violent turf wars often linked to the black market trade in gold.

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