It is unreasonable for illegal miners in Stilfontein to expect medical treatment and food to be brought to them while they remain underground to avoid arrest — and none of them have complained about their constitutional rights being violated, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) heard yesterday.

It heard the organisation Society for the Protection of Our Constitution's application seeking an urgent interdict to prevent police from barring the supply of food, water and medical treatment to hundreds of illegal miners in a disused gold mine in Stilfontein. 

TimesLIVE reports that the miners had been stuck for weeks in a 2km-deep shaft when police pounced on them at exit points during Operation Vala Umgodi, which aims to combat illegal mining.

The organisation was granted an interim interdict on Saturday that ordered police to allow the illegal miners to be rescued.

The respondents, made up of the Ministers of Police, Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs, Mineral Resources and Health, yesterday made their representation.

Advocate Bonginkosi Lukhele said the applicant failed to bring evidence to support their claim that the miners' rights to life, dignity and health were violated.

TimesLIVE notes that the thousands of miners were not trapped but were evading arrest, Lukhele said.

‘You must differentiate between human rights and criminality. We have individuals in the mine who are not supposed to be doing what they are doing and were given an exit but do not want to come out,’ Lukhele argued.

‘You can’t sit there and not want to be arrested but you want your right to life and dignity to be respected. You want doctors to be brought to you and when you want groceries you want them brought to you because you don’t want to come out. These illegal miners ... as it stands now, are not in the custody of the police. Once you are in the custody of the police, it’s a different story. Those who are (underground) are evading arrest and are frustrating the operation of police.’

However, the police operation stripped the miners of methods to resurface that they previously used with the help of the communities, said the organisation's legal representative Yasmin Omar.

Omar argued that police instead used brutal tactics to remove the miners such as refusing to rescue them while depriving them of food, water and medical treatment.

‘The view of the (government) that this is a matter of law and order is simply not true. To detain people underground in that fashion and use tactics like starvation is not policing. We must give it its true name – this is brutality. This kind of policing is not welcome in a democracy like ours.’

TimesLIVE notes that he said it was contradictory to the actions of the country’s government, which went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to fight for humanitarian aid for Palestinians.

‘Our country told the ICJ that (Israel) is blocking entries to Palestine and food is not allowed and is using starvation as a tactic. What is happening here is the same strategy ... It’s sad to make this announcement in public yet in our country people are oppressed by sanctions of police,’ Omar said.

The Star reports that Judge Brenda Neukircher said she would deliver her judgment by Monday.

Full TimesLIVE report

Full report in The Star