Stilfontein rescue operation: Autopsy results of zama zamas released
The operation is the final phase of government’s plan to clamp down on illegal mining in the area.
Miners underground it was a wait-and-see game as SAPS await their emergence on 15 November 2024. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
STILFONTEIN -The autopsy results of some of the illegal miners who died in Stilfontein have been released as the death toll underground rises.
Almost 60 dead bodies have been retrieved from a shaft at the Buffelsfontein gold mine since the start of the week.
The recovery of the remains comes as mine rescue teams kick off an intense operation to retrieve zama zamas occupying the abandoned shaft 11.
The operation is the final phase of the government’s plan to clamp down on illegal mining in the area.
While the death toll continues to climb - - the cause of death for some of the illegal miners is yet to be confirmed.
READ: More than 1,500 illegal miners arrested since Operation Vala Umgodi began
But for Taurai Maposa, a Mozambican national -forensic pathologists at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp have listed starvation as the cause of death.
Although food and water supply to the illegal miners was cut when Operation Vala Umgodi was intensified last August, Maposa’s time of death is unknown.
Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said the blame cannot be placed on the government’s doorstep.
"If you go and steal gold, you cannot give anybody any responsibility for that. It’s your responsibility. We're told this gold goes to somebody, they must also take responsibility for them."
Some of the illegal miners who have died will be repatriated to their home countries for burial.