By Thapelo Molefe
The Stilfontein mining crisis and how the government has handled the situation continues to draw outage, with the General Industrial Workers Union of SA (Giwusa) labelling recent events at the North West mine as a “massacre”.
It is now estimated that 109 illegal miners have died, and many are in a critical condition.
Hundreds of miners are still underground since the police cut off supplies to them in August last year in an attempt to force them to resurface.
Rescue efforts at Shaft 11 are underway, led by Mine Rescue Services (MRS) with support from EMS, SAPS, Home Affairs, pathology, the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) and community leaders.
The rescue cage set up is nearly complete. Negotiations are in progress to extend working hours for the cage from 6am to 10pm. The team has a 10-day timeline to complete the mission.
A designated area
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