NATJOINS (National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure) is pleading with miners still underground in Stilfontein to voluntarily climb out.
Preparations to fetch the miners are also underway, by a service provider.
More than 1,500 miners have ever since resurfaced from the Stilfontein mine.
“We are in possession of a quotation that indicates that there must also be a 100% upfront payment. It should be agreed upon that the Government must approach this process with due diligence and the utmost care, taking into consideration the applicable supply chain management processes involved. These processes must be above board in line with relevant prescripts.”
The Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), led by the Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), filed an urgent application for direct access to the Constitutional Court of South Africa, on Sunday.
This follows the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of an urgent application by MACUA on the 20th December 2024 to force the state to provide food, water and medicine to underground miners in Stilfontein, North West.
Magnificent Mndebele of MACAU, said “in our view, Judge Mazibuko of the Pretoria High Court erred in her decision and thereby committed an egregious miscarriage of justice in her ruling which shielded the State from taking the responsibility to sustain the lives of the trapped miners, who, without food, will continue to die.”
He also said the failure by the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources to close the mine properly, and the actions of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Operation Vala Umgodi, which failed to plan effectively for the contingencies which are now playing itself out in Stilfontein, have led to an unprecedented crisis in which tens of miners have died.
NATJOINS said on Sunday, recent developments have seen a number of illegal miners, known as Zama Zamas, voluntarily emerging from the disused mine shafts in Stilfontein. “This trend indicates that these individuals have the capability to exit the underground tunnels independently. Their delayed emergence appears to be a tactic to evade arrest by law enforcement agencies.”
NATJOINS also said unlike the Sabie operation, in which the shaft is 150 meters deep, the Stilfontein shaft is 2 kilometers deep to where these illegal miners allegedly are, making it a very difficult and highrisk operation to undertake.