‘Massacre’: Did South Africa starve dozens of trapped miners to death?

A months-long standoff between South African authorities and illegal miners trapped in an abandoned mine in the town of Stilfontein ended this week with at least 78 people killed – likely from starvation, rights groups say.

On Thursday, South African police confirmed it ended a rescue operation launched on Monday following a court order. Authorities said there were no more survivors or bodies in the deep, multilevel mine, according to cameras sent down to sweep the area.

In total, 246 survivors, many of them appearing gaunt and emaciated, were rescued.

Rights groups have criticised the government for failing to prevent what they are calling a “massacre” after security officials cut off food and other essential supplies to the miners for several weeks and delayed a rescue operation.

Here’s what to know about the months-long standoff and the complicated rescue operation:

What happened?

Since September, hundreds – possibly thousands – of suspected illegal miners were believed to be holed up in the vast tunnel network of the Stilfontein mine without adequate food or water, after police surrounded the mine without warning and stopped supplies from getting in.

The Stilfontein mine in North West Province comprises multiple shafts or entryways several kilometres apart underground. Police officers sealed off some of the exits and claimed the miners could emerge from others, but activists said the entryways were too far apart, and that the police had, in effect, trapped the men.

Although miners’ families and community members pleaded for an official rescue mission, authorities declined. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the goal was to “smoke them out”. That statement prompted criticism from human rights groups who warned of possible mass deaths as several days passed without the miners receiving food.

A court order in October finally forced the police to allow community members to send some food down and pull some miners up the shafts using ropes. Authorities at the time put the number of miners at between 350 and 400.

Several people were rescued in sporadic and slow attempts by community members using ropes. In November, authorities said they would begin assessing the possibilities of an assisted evacuation using cages after a body was sent up on the ropes.

Civil rights groups sued the government in January after videos surfaced showing piles of dead bodies in the mine. In the court petitions, recently rescued miners revealed that the conditions underground forced people to eat cockroaches and human flesh and that some people trying to escape had fallen to their death.

Last week, a judge ordered the police to rescue all the miners. On Monday, a specialist mining rescue company began dropping a small cage down the shaft. Two community members volunteered to go down the shaft, as police officials had claimed it would be unsafe.

In total, 324 people including survivors and dead bodies were retrieved. Some families say they are still looking for their loved ones.

Thandeka Zinzi Tom’s brother was in the mine but has not been seen. “It’s a very difficult moment for us,” she told Al Jazeera, as she attempted to get to the site.

What’s the problem with illegal mining in South Africa?

Informal miners, known locally as “zama zamas”, or hustlers, comb some 6,000 formerly functional gold mines looking for gold deposits or other precious metal deposits. The sites are either officially closed or have had mining halted because they were deemed unsafe or non-viable. Other times, informal miners have targeted functional mines.

Operations like these have existed for decades and cost South Africa $1bn yearly in lost revenue. They are carried out almost entirely by poor, undocumented people from neighbouring countries. So far, in the Stilfontein case, officials said most are from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, with a few from South Africa.

Zama zamas have a bad reputation in the country and are often viewed as criminals. Officials say the illegal trade is controlled by criminal syndicates that fight one another in gang wars or attack the police. Often, these crime bosses also exploit miners or traffic people into forced mine work.

To get some gold, miners travel thousands of kilometres into old, unstable shafts and use basic materials like picks and buckets to scoop gold ore. Often, they remain underground for months and rely on help from contractors outside who pull them up with ropes for a fee and send them supplies like food, water, and cigarettes.

Why did South Africa’s government not act sooner?

South African police spokesperson Athlende Mathe said on Wednesday that the deaths recorded were not the police’s fault.

“The kingpins, those that are behind these operations, are the ones that should be held accountable,” she said.

Officials have also blamed the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine (BGM), which owns the rights to the mine in Stilfontein, saying it should have secured the mines and ensured it removed trespassers.

In September, at the start of the operation, authorities said they were going to wait until all the miners exited the mine and would then arrest them. Their crackdown was part of the police and military’s joint operation called “Close the Hole” or “Vala Umgodi” in Zulu, which was launched in December 2023.

The operation involves closing off shafts or entrances to mines, cutting off provisions from the outside, and forcing miners out of the ground. Officials said more than 1,000 miners had exited mines across multiple cities during the operation, and that explosives, firearms, and more than $2m in cash had been seized.

A group of 14 miners, including a teenager, escaped from an unsealed shaft in the Stilfontein mine in November. The men said they trekked for hours to get there. One man told Al Jazeera at the time that people he left behind were dying, and that “some are already dead”. Another added that “a boss” in the shaft had tried to prevent them from leaving with a gun.

However, police officials doubled down on their refusal to launch a rescue operation, insisting that the escape proved the miners were not in distress and were able to get out on their own. Activists pointed out that it would take some people days to get to open shafts, and that too many were already weak without food and water.

What have rights groups said?

Rights groups and community members have condemned the government’s slowness to act, blaming the deaths of the 78 miners on the police and government ministers.

“We are not really excited,” Mzukusi Jam, a community activist told Al Jazeera. “They did not act willingly, pressure was exerted on them.”

A miners’ rights group, MACUA (Mining Affected Communities United in Action) said the crisis was a “massacre, if not a genocide”, because the government’s “intention” to use starvation as a tool to force out the miners encroached on their right to life.

“The fact of the matter is their calculated actions, how they responded to the humanitarian crisis, resulted in the mass deaths,” spokesperson Magnificent Mndebele told Al Jazeera.

Officials did not consider the conditions underground before launching Vala Umgodi, he added, and when facts were presented, the police disregarded the human rights implications, while state agencies deployed delay tactics for two months.

The group, one of many that petitioned the authorities several times during the months-long standoff, was instrumental in securing the court order that led to this week’s rescue operation.

In its petition to the courts, MACUA presented testimonies from recently rescued miners who said the conditions underground by October were so dire that some were eating toothpaste. The men added that an intense fight broke out when authorities allowed community members to send food down, as there wasn’t enough to go around.

“We cannot become a society where we allow police officers to facilitate the death or the starvation and dehydration of people, regardless of whatever activities they are doing underground,” Jessica Lawrence, with the organisation Lawyers for Human Rights, said on Wednesday.

Separately, MACUA’s Mndebele also accused government officials of exploiting anti-migrant sentiments already rife in South Africa.

“Because they are illegal miners and are foreigners, they are not worthy of any human rights – that was the approach of the state,” he said. “To be blunt, the state was xenophobic and racist.”

What’s next?

Officials said the rescued miners would be treated in hospitals and would stand trial.

Members of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the country’s second-largest political party that is part of the governing coalition government, are calling for an investigation into the crisis. The party was the major opposition party before last year’s elections saw the ruling African National Congress (ANC) slip in the polls.

On Thursday, party spokesperson James Lorimer said the DA sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa calling for a “full and transparent” investigation into the “disaster”. The DA also said the role of government agencies, as well as the mine owners and operators, should be investigated.

“The DA urges President Ramaphosa to act swiftly, while witnesses are still available, to ensure that this inquiry takes place. A transparent investigation will help uncover the full scope of the crisis and prevent future tragedies of this nature,” Lorimer added.

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