So the Stilfontein mine drama has finally come to an end with no more miners being retrieved today. The human rights activists are trying to blame this on the government for letting people die, but seriously what did they expect was going to be the outcome? I would not be convinced that they all came up and that some will still be down there hoping the police will now leave.
When the mine shaft entrance/exit was surrounded by police last year the government spokesperson said let us smoke them out. No policeman is going to go down the shaft knowing the illegal miners are desperate and well armed. The illegal miners thought that they would receive food and water and that they would just continue with mining.
The food and water was stopped as it was clear they were not coming out any time soon. The press were saying they were trapped, but in all honesty they were free to exit. They did not want to as they knew they would be arrested and deported. Mozambican miners retrieved on Monday are already back in Mozambique.
This is the problem of open borders with undocumented people as they are part of a much bigger criminal network. The local population does not care and many thought the starving them out is the right solution and I tend to agree. They went underground knowing full well they were committing a crime and this time they got caught.
The police now need to uncover who is behind all of this and who the king pins are funding these illegal mining operations. I dare say some of the corrupt government officials are involved as why has this taken so long to arrest illegal miners who have been doing this for many years.
Many of the miners stated that hey were not allowed to leave by the other miners who threatened to kill them if they decided to leave. I wonder how many of the 78 bodies was through starvation as these are criminals we are talking about and not some unlucky "trapped" miners.
I have seen other reports where each illegal miner pays $200 monthly to be allowed to mine and the gold they recover gets shared equally. The king pins claim the $200 membership fees and allows them access to buy the gold from the miners. The king pins behind this are reported to be based in Lesotho which would make sense and how they get the gold out of the country as Lesotho is a borderless country within South Africa. This becomes Lesotho gold and is then easily sold on the markets which I would guess happens in Dubai.
Illegal mining is such a big problem in South Africa as no one really knows what is happening beneath the ground in abandoned shafts. These shafts run under the city of Johannesburg and without engineers making sure things are being done correctly this could be catastrophic damaging foundations of buildings and infrastructure like motor ways.
The crime associated with these illegal miners is big and many believe they are responsible for many of the cash in transit vehicle robberies. After one raid recently on another mine shaft police found R54 million in cash ($3 million), fire arms and explosives. You could commit the crime and then disappear underground into the mine shaft network not having to surface for months at a time.
The open borders is a major problem and where the majority of the crime comes from and until that is fixed this illegal mining and whatever else they are mixed up in will continue to happen.
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Crazy that this is happening. I am glad that they were apprehended, it sets at least some precedent and will deter others from doing these kinds of stand offs. I find it a bit strange that some of these people were simply deported, wouldn't make sense to jail them until trial then issue stiff prison sentences with deportation afterwards. This way they are simply free to return and mine again.
Yes prison sentences should be handed out here. I think some will as the dead bodies ae not all starvation. Finally policing is happening and I think the border situation will change as there is no work with 60% unemployment in SA.
I've seen many interviews on BBC about this and it is crazy. I think only in Africa can happen such thing. It's like the wild west, with no rules at all. Other developed countries have rules regarding abandoned, closed mines and no such thing can happen.
Yes only in Africa. The last mine rescuing illegal miners trapped due to a cave in resulted in the rescuers dying due to a gas explosion and those bodies are still there. There can be no rescue when dealing with illegals.
It's not just the illegals but imagine what they have been doing made the mine unsafe. It's unbelievably crazy.
Nothing safe and the buildings below these mine shafts are also unsafe.
Crazy!
Undocumented things and crime happen all over the country but sometimes people point out the difference between the Western Cape and other parts of the country. And then I am glad that I am here!