‘A miscarriage of justice’: Why MACUA plans to take Stilfontein mine crisis to ConCourt
The organisation believes the High Court made an error in dismissing their request for the government to provide humanitarian aid to the trapped illegal miners.
Three illegal miners were arrested after they emerged from shaft 10 at the old Buffelsfontein gold mine in the North West on 28 November 2024. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - Concerned civil organisations have escalated the Stilfontein mine crisis to the Constitutional Court, seeking an order for the trapped illegal miners to receive humanitarian aid.
An organisation representing mining-affected communities, Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), has filed an urgent application for direct access to the apex court, where it plans to present its grievances.
It is urging the court to instruct the government to provide food, water, and medication to the trapped illegal miners at the abandoned Stilfontein mine.
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MACUA spokesperson Magnificent Mndebele said the government was failing in its constitutional duty to protect the lives of the trapped zama zamas.
The body also emphasised that the more the State was allowed to shirk its constitutional obligations in rescuing the trapped miners, the more people would die.
Recent reports from underground indicate that more people have died in the intervening periods between their last court appeal and their application to the Constitutional Court.
MACUA’s application to the Constitutional Court follows the dismissal of a similar application by the Pretoria High Court.
Mndebele believes the High Court made an error in dismissing their request for the government to provide humanitarian aid to the trapped illegal miners.
"In our view, Honourable Madam Justice Mazibuko AJ, with respect, erred in her decision, which has the effect of shielding the state from taking responsibility to sustain the lives of the trapped miners, who, without food, will continue to die.
“The Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria, ruled that impoverished and unemployed community members, social movements, and charitable organisations can provide humanitarian aid to the trapped miners, but that the State and the mining company that abandoned the mine bear zero responsibility for remedying the situation they effectively caused. This, respectfully, is a miscarriage of justice."