Illegal miners are not trapped, they are afraid of arrest – Lt-Gen Mosiliki in court papers

The illegal miners in Stilfontein who do not want to resurface are not trapped, they just fear being arrested.

There is an alternative safe exit at a nearby Margeret mine shaft where more than 500 of them resurfaced without risking their lives.

“Those who decided not to come out elected to not to do so, not because of any conduct from the police.”

This is what the deputy police commissioner responsible for policing, Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili, said in court papers filed in the Pretoria high court on Tuesday morning where the application by the Society for the Protection of Our Constitution to argue for the rights of the zama zamas was expected to be heard.

However, the matter was postponed to Thursday to allow the applicants to read the respondents' papers and respond.

The respondents in the matter are the ministers of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, police, mineral resources and social development.

In the papers, Mosikili says police must combat and investigate, adding that the Stilfontein mine shaft is considered a crime scene as the zama zamas are heavily armed.

“Despite this, police in their operation 'vala umgodi' have never blocked illegal miners from exiting through the Stilfontein mining shaft. But instead, they have prevented explosives, alcohol, generators and illegal firearms from being lowered to these illegal miners,” Mosikili said.

“Entrance or exit at Stilfontein mine shaft is unsafe; I say so because Stilfontein mine is estimated to be 2km deep. Thus, it is unsafe for any emergency personnel to enter the mine through this shaft without the experts having conducted a risk assessment analysis.”

Human rights activist, Abderrrahman Regragui, argued in court papers that the illegal miners had been denied access to basic supplies as part of an official strategy against illegal mining. On Saturday, the Pretoria high court granted an order preventing the police from blocking the shaft.

The organisation wants the government to provide all necessary emergency disaster relief to the illegal miners underground at the Stilfontein mine such as food, water, medical aid and blankets.

Their lawyer, Yasmin Ormar, said the situation in Stilfontein was between “life and death”.

However, in the papers, Mosikili says: “Those illegal miners who died, if any, died as a result of other reasons that will be revealed when the autopsy received as opposed to them not receiving any basic food supplies or being unable to exit.”

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