The Stilfontein mine task team has begun the first phase of the retrieval operation to bring illegal miners to the surface. Picture: Timothy Bernard/Independent Newspapers
In asking for a final order that government must be compelled to assist the miners “trapped” underground in Stilfontein, in the North West, the lawyer acting for the Society for the Protection of Our Constitution said that using tactics such as starvation to try and force them out was tantamount to brutality.
“All we ask is for government to comply with the Bill of Rights,” Yasmin Omar told the Gauteng High Court on Thursday.
Judge Brenda Neukircher reserved judgment in the application for the court to urgently come to the aid of the miners who are said to be still trapped underground.
The court on Saturday issued an interim order that pending finalisation of the application, the mineshaft must be unblocked and must not be locked by any person or institution, whether government or private.
Any miners trapped in the mine shaft should be permitted to exit.
The parties were back in court this week, with government and the police asking the court to turn down the application.
Advocate Bongi Lukhele, who argued on behalf of the Minister of Mineral Resources, once again stressed that the miners were not trapped, as they could surface from an alternative shaft that had been opened.
He told Judge Neukircher that they did not want to surface, as they feared being arrested by the waiting police.
He said they should not have been in the mine in the first place and stressed that the SAPS had a job to do and the court should not aid their lawlessness.
Judge Neukircher, after listening to both the applicant and Lukhele, said this was a very important matter and she would deliver her judgment no later than Monday.
Lukhele, meanwhile, stressed that those who wanted to get out could do so via the Magaret mine shaft as an emergency exit point, without risking their lives.
Buffelsfontein Gold Mines has, meanwhile, also engaged the mine’s rescue services to assist the illegal miners in exiting the Stilfontein mine shaft. They are conducting a risk analysis which is essential before they can start with their operations.
It is said that the mine is 2km deep and it is dangerous to enter the mine.
Lukhele told Judge Neukircher that those who had surfaced to date did not complain that they were ill-treated by the police or in any danger.
“The reason why they are there is because of illegal mining.
“They are not supposed to be there,” he said.
Cape Times
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