By Simon Nare
Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has shot down any suggestions of the government intervening to help trapped illegal miners to get food.
She told the media in a post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday that there was no way the government would help people who she described as criminals.
“You want us to help criminals. We are not going to help criminals. We are going to smoke them out and when they come out, we are going to arrest them. Criminals are not to be helped. Criminals are to be persecuted. We didn’t send them there,” said Ntshavheni.
Hundreds of illegal miners, commonly known as zama zamas, are trapped in a disused mine in at Stilfontein in the North West after the police blocked tunnels and entrances where they access food.
Hundreds of them have surfaced already.
One resident who had gone underground to help, told television news
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