The Standoff

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South Africa’s government said will not help 4,000 illegal miners stuck inside a mine without basic necessities because they want to “smoke them out” and stop the illegal mining in the country, the Associated Press reported.

Recently, police closed off the entrances to an old mineshaft in Stilfontein in northwestern South Africa, leaving thousands of illegal miners, known locally as “zama zamas” stuck without food, water or other basic supplies.

The closure is part of the police’s Vala Umgodi operation, or “Close the Hole”, which aims to cut off entrances used by the miners to transport supplies, in an effort to force them to return above ground and face arrest.

Police have estimated that as many as 4,000 miners may be below the surface. In the past weeks, over 1,000 miners have emerged sick and hungry from various mines in the region after going weeks without basic supplies. They were arrested by authorities.

“We are not sending help to criminals,” said Cabinet Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni. “We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped. We didn’t send them there.”

Illegal mining is common in South Africa’s former gold mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to search for gold and other minerals. The illegal miners often hail from neighboring countries and are part of larger syndicates that employ the miners.

The miners work in extremely dangerous conditions, but are also deemed dangerous by South African authorities, noted Deutsche Welle.

Nearby communities have complained about the presence of the illegal miners, saying that they commit crimes such as robberies and rape. Disputes sometimes between rival mining groups result in fatalities, as the groups are known to be heavily armed.