A desperate North West family is losing sleep over the welfare of one of their family members, who is a part of the illegal miners, colloquially referred to as zama zamas, who have been stranded underground at Stilfontein.
The illegal miners, said to be in their thousands, have been stuck deep in the shafts of disused mines after the area was flooded with police and armed forces as part of Operation Vala Umgodi – a government blitz against illegal mining.
Debate peaked around the issue of the stranded zama zamas after Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that government would not attempt to rescue illegal miners stranded underground. Instead, she said the government would “smoke them out”.
At a post Cabinet media briefing in Cape Town, Ntshavheni insisted government would not help criminals.
“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.”
At the post Cabinet media briefing in Cape Town, Ntshavheni insisted government “would not help criminals”.
“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,” she said.
“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. Those who want to help them, they must go and take the food down there. They will come out, we will arrest them.”
The minister’s sharp remarks sparked a flurry of reaction, with many supporting her strong stance against illegal mining, while numerous lambasted Ntshavheni, saying her words lack empathy for the families in North West who have gathered to seek help for the desperate miners.
On Thursday night, a resident of Stilfontein Thandeka Thom told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that her brother’s only means for livelihood is the illegal mining in a poverty-stricken community.
“We should save lives. Here, based on the matter of unemployment people find themselves going into illegal. All I can say is that we are here to save our brothers. My brother is underground. I last saw him three months ago,” she said.
Thom said her brother used to be a gangster, who has since turned around his life and ekes a living out of the illegal mining.
“He would go around doing crime but since he joined this illegal mining, I would say even if he was doing something illegal, but he became a decent man. He became a family man. Someone who is responsible in his family. We were happy,” she said.
Thom says at intervals, her brothers spends two months underground, in the disused mines with other men. It became a norm that he goes for two months and he comes back. We started getting worried when he didn’t come back. That is when we went to the community leaders.”
She added that the community members became desperate when they were informed that that all channels for the miners to get medication, food and water have been cut off by law enforcement agents.
“My brother, I know that he is on his medication. He is sick,” she said.
She said her family is traumatised, engulfed by fear and anxiety, worried about the her brother’s welfare. She said that her community is going through a very sad period.
Commenting on X, responding to Ntshavheni’s remarks, federal chair of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille has called for empathy in the handling of the issue of the trapped illegal miners, adding that the situation should be treated with empathy as it affects people’s lives.
“Come on. The minister is talking about human beings here. People facing a perilous life-threatening calamity must be rescued,” said Zille.
“Arrest and prosecute them for breaking the law. But don’t leave them to perish in horrific circumstances. What happened to Ubuntu?”
