A South African court has ordered an end to the police closure of an abandoned gold mine, where hundreds of people have been illegally detained.
Emergency services have been at the scene, in Stilfontein, 90 kilometers south-west of Johannesburg, for several days. The police blocked food and water from entering the mine so that, as one government minister put it, “it doesn’t smoke”.
The miners – who have been underground for a month – have so far refused to leave the mine because they fear arrest. Among them are undocumented immigrants who also fear deportation.
The police accepted the order but said it will not stop them from arresting the miners who came out of the mine.
On Saturday, the Pretoria court ordered that the mine “must not be blocked by any person or institution in the government or private sector”.
It also said that any person in the mines should be allowed to leave, and “no one who is not an emergency person can enter the mine shaft”.
This decision comes after a number of volunteers entered the abandoned mine to help the miners, reports say they have been consuming vinegar and toothpaste to survive. Volunteers said they pulled the body out of the mine on Thursday.
This happened when the police called experts to check whether the mine shafts are complete, to inform them of the decision whether to remove them by force, according to the AFP news agency.
Yasmin Omar, a lawyer who assisted in the trial, told state broadcaster SABC that the decision was a temporary order “that will at least allow us to get emergency help to the people. [who] I need it”.
He said the full hearing of this matter will be until Tuesday.
“These underground people are dying,” said Ms. Omar, adding that the decision means that officials “must do everything possible to provide medical assistance to underground people”.
In a statement, the South African Police Service (SAPS) accepted the court’s order, stressing that it does not prevent the police from making arrests.
It said: “All those who have woken up will continue to be checked by health workers on site, as has been happening.
“Those who are in good health will be investigated and detained. Those who need medical attention will be taken to the hospital under police supervision.”
The SAPS added that as of 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Saturday, three of the miners have resurfaced.
More than 1,000 miners have already been arrested.
South Africa is a country rich in minerals. According to official estimates, it holds about 30% of gold reserves and 88% of all platinum deposits.
But many mines have closed in recent years and miners have been laid off, creating a black market that costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
While gold remains an important commodity, rising mining costs – which have been widely blamed for power outages and deep-pocketing – have made most mines unprofitable, according to the South African Minerals Council, the industry body.
In an effort to survive in poor conditions, miners and undocumented migrants are increasingly entering closed mines to grab their remaining deposits.
Some spend months underground, and illegal mining has created a small economy that provides food and tobacco to the miners.
However, the authorities are determined to end this practice. Illegal miners are sometimes recruited by gangs and can be armed.
The SAPS has previously said that among those who will wake up in the Stilfontein mine are people from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
The force has launched a nationwide campaign aimed at combating illegal mining and related criminal activities.
On 3 November, it said at least 565 people had been evacuated from the mine in Orkney, south-west of Johannesburg.
But the South African Human Rights Commission on Friday said it has started an investigation into the way the SAPS police handled the incident at the Stilfontein mine, following complaints that the blockade may have violated the miners’ right to life.
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