As top government officials including Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu and Defence Minister Angie Motshekga descend on Stilfontein on Friday, where illegal miners are stranded, the community is demanding answers from the national executive.
The delegation will reportedly be joined by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Thembi Simelane and Premier of the North West, Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi.
reported on Thursday that the ministers will visit the area on Friday as government seeks to find an amicable way to resolve the impasse.
Debate has peaked across South Africa regarding the way forward on the stranded illegal miners, who are said to be in their thousands. On Wednesday, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the stranded miners were “criminals” and the government would “smoke them out”.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. We are not sending help to criminals. Criminals are not to be helped. Criminals are to be persecuted,” the minister said in a briefing on Wednesday.
“We didn’t send them there, and they didn’t go down there for the good benefit or for the good intentions for the Republic. So, we can’t help them,” she said.
On Friday, ahead of the much-anticipated ministers’ visit, community leader Johannes Qankase said all they want is confirmation from the ministers – if what Ntshavheni said is indeed government’s stance.
“All we want is confirmation on whether that is the true position, the statement made by minister in the Presidency. Is that the resolution of Cabinet to not assist at all. That is what we will ask when we engage face-to-face with them, we will engage the ministers so that they tell us, and we can go to the community and explain that indeed, what the minister in the Presidency said, that they cannot help but instead smoke them out is actually true,” Qankase told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
reported on Thursday that Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie has voiced his support for Ntshavheni’s tough stance on the illegal miners.
The community-led operation to rescue the stranded miners has continued for the third day, and some of the miners have been brough to the surface – albeit a slow, strenuous process.
