South African authorities are facing mounting criticism for their handling of a standoff involving illegal miners trapped in an abandoned gold mine, with the death toll from the incident rising to at least 87. The miners, who have been underground since August 2024, are believed to have died from starvation and dehydration, though the exact causes of death have not yet been confirmed.
The incident has sparked outrage over the government’s refusal to provide assistance to the miners, with initial reports indicating that authorities opted to “smoke them out” by cutting off food supplies instead of attempting a rescue. This approach was described by a prominent Cabinet minister and has drawn condemnation from various sectors, including South Africa’s largest trade unions.

The miners, who are suspected to have been engaged in illegal mining activities, had become trapped in the mine after a collapse. In response to the crisis, community groups initiated their own rescue attempts, with some volunteers attempting to send food and water into the mine despite the government’s initial stance. Authorities reportedly took action to impede these efforts, dismantling ropes and a pulley system that the miners had used to receive supplies from the surface.
Following legal action, a court ruled last year that authorities must allow food and water to be sent to the miners, and another court decision last week compelled the government to launch an official rescue operation. The rescue efforts were led by Mannas Fourie, CEO of Mines and Rescue Services, who praised the operation as a “world first” due to the unique machine developed by South Africa’s mining industry to safely extract the miners.
While the authorities have since initiated the rescue mission, the scale of the disaster has left many local residents devastated. Over the past few weeks, community members had been pulling decomposing bodies from the mine, some with desperate notes attached, pleading for food. Mandla Charles, a volunteer who helped with the rescue operation, expressed frustration, stating, “This government must make a plan, and they must go to court. They must account for these bodies.”

The tragedy has drawn further attention from political parties, with South Africa’s second-largest political party, which is part of the ruling coalition, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish an independent inquiry into the handling of the disaster. Authorities now estimate that nearly 2,000 miners had been working illegally in the Stilfontein mine, located southwest of Johannesburg, when the disaster began to unfold.
As the death toll continues to climb, the disaster highlights both the dire conditions faced by illegal miners in South Africa and the severe consequences of inadequate government intervention.