XPost: soc.culture.south-africa, sci.engr.mining, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.law-enforcement   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   A rescue operation is underway to bring up the miners who are still alive   
   after a two-month standoff in South Africa between police and illegal   
   miners. They'll recover the bodies of those who died.   
      
   MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:   
      
   An operation is underway to rescue hundreds of illegal miners trapped in   
   an abandoned gold mine shaft in South Africa. This started off as a   
   standoff between South African police and illegal miners. Months later,   
   with many miners dead of starvation, it has turned into a desperate rescue   
   mission. Kate Bartlett reports from the mining town of Stilfontein. And a   
   warning, her story mentions cannibalism and details of starvation.   
      
   UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Yelling in non-English language).   
      
   KATE BARTLETT, BYLINE: People here are angry.   
      
   UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Yelling in non-English language).   
      
   BARTLETT: Their small town of Stilfontein in North West province, South   
   Africa, has become the site of a human tragedy that could have been   
   prevented.   
      
   (SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY GRINDING)   
      
   BARTLETT: At the edge of the abandoned gold mine, a cage is slowly being   
   lowered down to rescue scores of illegal miners known here as zama zamas,   
   who have been languishing underground for months.   
      
   MUZKISI JAM: We are not going to celebrate and give accolades to the   
   government and say, finally, they came. The only thing that we're   
   appreciating is the fact that at least the families will be given an   
   opportunity to bury their loved ones.   
      
   BARTLETT: Muzkisi Jam is a civil society leader who's been urging the   
   government to help the illegal miners for months now, but the government   
   repeatedly refused, saying the zama zamas were dangerous criminals who   
   needed to be smoked out. Eventually, after a court order, a rescue   
   operation began this week. Now, they are bringing up the survivors and the   
   bodies, of which there were over 50 on Tuesday alone.   
      
   ZINZI TOM: It's not a good moment at all. He's been underground since July   
   last year.   
      
   BARTLETT: Zinzi Tom has been waiting at the rescue site to see if her   
   brother will be brought up alive.   
      
   TOM: One thing that I told myself is that I pray to God to give me   
   strength. I have to make sure that he's OK and pray to God.   
      
   BARTLETT: South Africa was once the world's biggest gold producer, but   
   many mines have been shut down and abandoned. The road to Stilfontein, a   
   small town over 100 miles southwest of Johannesburg, is dotted with   
   massive mine dumps rising out of the countryside like something from a   
   sci-fi film. Local Samuel Sehebeng is having a drink at the nearby   
   township tavern. He was a casualty of mine layoffs.   
      
   SAMUEL SEHEBENG: I used to work in the mining industry. I lost my job   
   through retrenchment. It was 2017. Thereafter, I've been unemployed since   
   then.   
      
   BARTLETT: Zama zama is Zulu for one who takes a chance, and take a chance   
   they certainly do. They eke out a living spending weeks deep underground   
   in dangerous conditions searching for gold. Many are desperately   
   impoverished people toiling for heavily armed criminal syndicates. They   
   are from South Africa, as well as neighboring countries like Mozambique,   
   Zimbabwe and Lesotho.   
      
   UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).   
      
   BARTLETT: As the day wore on, a group of zama zamas were brought up to the   
   surface. One collapses, unable to walk. They look like skeletons - dust-   
   covered and blinking at the harsh sunlight - and are led away to waiting   
   ambulances.   
      
   UNIDENTIFIED MINER: People are dying here. Please help. Please, please,   
   please help us.   
      
   BARTLETT: Earlier in the week, one of the groups released this camera   
   footage showing multiple corpses down below, emaciated miners and a   
   plaintive plea for help from one unknown miner. Some have become so   
   desperate, they have resorted to the unthinkable, according to civil   
   society leader Muzkisi Jam.   
      
   JAM: The situation down there is bad to an extent that they have started   
   eating human flesh.   
      
   BARTLETT: For now, rescue workers can only hope to recover as many alive   
   as possible. But with the promise of gold, it's unlikely South Africa's   
   zama zamas will stop risking their lives underground anytime soon.   
      
   For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Stilfontein, South Africa.   
      
   https://www.npr.org/2025/01/14/nx-s1-5259652/the-desperate-operation-to-   
   rescue-illegal-miners-trapped-in-a-shaft-in-south-africa   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)