Sabie mine rescue mission going slow

About 24 hours since the rescue mission at a mine in Sabie started, a leader of the operation has told of difficulties which see them pulling out three illegal miners every hour.

So tough is the team's job that it can take more than 10 rescuers to pull one person with the rope which hangs more than 150 metres deep into the disused shaft at South Mine in Mpumalanga. 

By 7pm on Thursday, 41 illegal miners had been rescued since the operation started at midday on Wednesday.

Capt Poti Potgieter, who heads the SAPS Operation Vala Umgodi rescue team, said their operation got into full swing on Thursday after they struggled with proper equipment on Wednesday, which saw them retrieving only  three bodies. 

Potgieter said one of their main strategies which has helped so far was the use of a rope, two-way radio, a camera and translator.

The radio was lowered to the trapped miners Thursday and they use one of the miners they arrested on Tuesday to send instructions to his colleagues underground. The miner can speak Portuguese, Shona, Setswana and Sotho, which are the main languages spoken by the trapped men. 

"His job is to inform his friends of what we are planning to do. We don't want to scare them.

"Each time the rope goes down we send it with a video camera and then instruct them via the walkie-talkie how to fasten it around their bodies. We are able to watch them fasten it. Once they are done, we then pull them up," said Potgieter.

There are believed to be more than 100 trapped illegal miners in the shaft. They have told the police they were sent underground against their will by their "bosses" to dig for gold. The food deliveries from their handlers were stopped about three weeks ago and they could not get out because they feared being shot at by their handlers stationed at exit points. 

On Tuesday, some of them managed to escape and were arrested by the police which led to the rescue operation on Wednesday. 

National police commissioner Gen Fanie Masemola, who was at the site on Thursday, said those rescued will be criminally charged. 

"We are at this stage looking at what can be done and what resources are needed to save lives."

Meanwhile, Mpumalanga premier Mandla Ndlovu said illegal mining is a disaster that needs to be curbed to restore livelihoods and deal with criminality. He said communities in areas where illegal mining took place were often subjected to deadly turf wars by warring gangs.

He also criticised activists calling for the government to legalise illegal mining.  "They must know that government cannot legalise something illegal." said Ndlovu.

He said the police were now going to pay special attention to the handlers of these illegal miners.

Mpumalanga MEC for community safety Jackie Macie said closing disused mines will be committing genocide. Speaking to TV news channel Newzroom Afrika on Thursday, Macie said there have been calls for disused mines to be closed and there were allegations that illegal miners are kidnapping women and taking them into those mines. 

“We cannot close the mines because people are living there. Society is pushing, [but] we said to wait and check to see if there is anyone there [before closing the mines],” he said.

The incidents in Sabie come as the country is still focusing on the Stilfontein mine in the North West, where six zama zama bodies have been pulled from the shaft of the mine.

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