FOREIGN NEWS: SOUTH AFRICA ARRESTS 14 WHO RESURFACED FROM ILLEGAL MINE
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After emerging from an illegal gold mine where hundreds of others are thought to be hiding, 14 suspects were caught, according to South African police on Monday.
For weeks, authorities have been positioned outside the abandoned hole in Stilfontein, which is located roughly 150 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of Johannesburg. They have been preventing residents from periodically bringing food and water to the miners in order to force them to leave.
Some people are upset about the operation because they think the guys, known as “zama zamas” (meaning “those who try” in Zulu), may be starving or even dying underground.
“A total of 14 illegal miners resurfaced last night — proving that they are not trapped — they just refuse to resurface,” police said in a statement.
“Others ran back into the shaft as soon as they noticed the police presence,” it added.
Those arrested “are all Mozambicans,” police said.
The mineral-rich country is home to thousands of illicit miners who live and work in harsh conditions. These miners are frequently from surrounding nations.
After emerging from the mine shaft on November 17, one of them told AFP that he had been underground for two months.
Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the president’s minister, stated that “we’re going to smoke them out” and that illegal miners should not receive assistance.
The exact number of persons down at Stilfontein is still unknown; a local resident first claimed that there were 4,000 people down the mine, but police later stated that the actual number was likely in the hundreds.
President Cyril Ramaphosa defended the police for blocking supplies in a bid to force the miners to emerge
“So far, more than 1,000 miners have surfaced and been arrested,” Ramaphosa said last week, calling the site in Stilfontein “a crime scene”.
“Those in good health are detained and will be processed according to the law. Those who require medical care will be taken to hospital under police guard,” he said.
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