SAFCEI Solidarity statement with Stilfontein miners

The Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) mourn the lives of those who were lost in Stilfontein, and those whose lives are lost elsewhere in the country, under the brutality of the State’s Operation Vala Umgodi.

What happened at Stilfontein reveals a painful reality: the lives of the most vulnerable—particularly those who are poor, marginalised, black, and immigrant—are treated as disposable. We know that 87 bodies were resurfaced during the rescue efforts and more were likely left behind, their stories and bodies lost to the damp dark tunnels below.

Instead of responding with compassion and justice, we see how politicians:

• Have reduced the miners in this situation to mere criminals, misleading the public by saying they are avoiding arrest, that they must be “smoked out” through the inhumane Operation Vala Umgodi.
• Drags its feet around legalising artisanal mining to make permits more accessible and the sector more regulated.
• Glosses over holding companies like the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine accountable for properly rehabilitating and re-training local communities when they close a mine.

We note the almost 6000 abandoned mines across South Africa that communities must bear the brunt of, while mining companies get away with huge profits and without accountability for their legal responsibilities to address their environmental degradation and retrain workers.

We stand against the dehumanisation of black bodies, the afrophobic sentiments echoed by the state leading up to and during this tragedy, and the prioritising of mining interests and profits over the lives of people.

We stand against the state’s normalization of the loss of human lives and environmental destruction for the sake of mining companies.

We stand in solidarity with the Stilfontein miners and call for justice, dignity, and systemic change.