By Amy Musgrave
The Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) has secured funding for a drone to assess and document the underground conditions where illegal miners are trapped in Stilfontein in the North West.
“The video footage obtained through this drone inspection will be instrumental in providing all concerned parties, and possibly including the court, with a clearer understanding of the conditions faced by the trapped miners,” Macua spokesperson Magnificent Mndebele said on Tuesday.
Macua has approached the Constitutional Court with an urgent application concerning the miners. It wants the court to order the government to provide humanitarian aid to the miners, warning that the situation has reached crisis levels.
Mndebele said that the drone would be utilised by a drone expert.
“The footage that can be obtained by the drone will serve to illuminate the circumstances underground, thereby facilitating informed decision making about the urgency of the rescue operation, which the state has dragged its feet on for the past two months,” he said.
“Upon completion of the drone operation, it is hoped that the evidence will be made available for joint assessment by all parties involved. This process will be conducted in an open and transparent manner to ensure fairness and accountability.”
This is not the first proposal that Macua has suggested to the state.
Two weeks ago, when the pulley system, which was instrumental for the survival of the trapped miners, was destroyed, it had offered to lower down a cellphone that would record the conditions underground to help get a better assessment of the situation.
The system was destroyed shortly after Macua made the request.
It is waiting to hear from the state if it will give the go-ahead for the drone.
Hundreds of miners are still believed to be underground and civil rights groups have warned that more of them will die if the state does not intervene.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance has said while it was opposed to illegal mining, the mass deaths from starvation and accidents had to be avoided.
“That is not how a democratic South Africa, subscribing to human rights, should behave. Such an occurrence would also be a public relations disaster and reduce the credibility of the government’s fight against illegal mining,” said the DA’s James Lorimer.
He said it appeared that there was no overall strategy to bring this saga to a close.
It was important that somebody in government too charge, coordinated the efforts of the various departments and mounted a rescue effort for those who wanted to get out, but could not.
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