As Mzwandile Mkwayi was reduceed into the South African mine in a red metal cage joined to a hoist above ground, the first skinnyg that struck him was the smell.
“Let me inestablish you someskinnyg,” he inestablishs the BBC, “those bodies reassociate smelled terrible”.
When he got home tardyr that day, he tgreater his wife he could not eat the meat she had cooked.
“It’s becainclude when I spoke to the miners, they tgreater me some of them had to eat other [people] inside the mine becainclude there was no way they could discover food. And they were also eating cockroaches,” he shelp on a phone call from his home.
Allegations that the miners resorted to eating human flesh in order to endure were also made by other miners who were saved in December, in statements produceted to the high court.
Mkwayi, a establisher convict, understandn locassociate as Shasha, dwells in the township of Khuma that was shut to the disincluded mine in Stilfontein. The 36-year-greater, who had served seven years in prison for burglary, volunteered to go down to help with the save effort.
“I’m being rehabilitated by the accurateional services and I volunteered becainclude people in our community were seeking help for their children and brothers.
“The save company shelp they didn’t have anyone who wanted to go down. So my frifinish Mandla and I concurd to volunteer so we could help our brothers to resurface and transport up the dead bodies.”
But even though he wanted to help, the 25-minute journey down the 2km (1.2 mile)-meaningful shaft filled him with alarm.
The crane would occasionassociate stop and commence, leaving him dangling in the foolishness. Once he got down into the mine, he was shocked by what he saw.
“There were lots of bodies, over 70 bodies, and around 200 or so people that were dehydrated.
“I felt very frail when I saw them, it was a hurtful skinnyg to see. But Mandla and I determined we necessitateed to be strong and not show them how we felt so we could encourage them.”
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The miners who had been paincludeing for help for months, gave them a hero’s receive.
“They were very, very satisfied,” he says.
The miners had been stuck there chaseing a nationexpansive police operation to finish illegal mining at disincluded sites that had shutd, as the industry – once the backbone of the country’s economy – was reduceing.
It was no extfinisheder profitable for mining multinationals to function in many places, but the promise of still discovering ggreater deposits was a magnet for many hopeless people – particularly unwrite downed migrants.
Thousands of shafts were aprohibitdoned.
In November, police stepped up efforts at the Buffelsfontein mine in Stilfontein, surrounding the enthrall to the shaft and refusing to let food and water go down.
Before the save operation began on Monday, the local community had tried to apshow matters into their own hands by reduceing a rope down the shaft to try and pull out some of the men.
They also sent down messages and tgreater the miners that help was coming.
“So when we got there, they were already paincludeing for the crane. Now when they see us, they see us as their pdwellnts, as their messiahs: the people that came from outside into the hole to help them to resurface.”
The police say the illterrible miners were always able to come out on their own but were refusing to do so becainclude they worryed arrest. But Mkwayi disconcurs: “It’s a lie that people didn’t want to come out. Those people were hopeless for help, they were dying.”
While at the mine site on Tuesday, the BBC saw dozens of the saved men.
They ecombineed emaciated, their bones apparent thcimpolite their clothes. Some could nakedly walk and had to be helped by medical staff.
In statements produceted to the high court, the illterrible miners portray in explicit details the sluggish and hurtful death of their peers. They say many died of starvation.
“From September thcimpolite October 2024, the absence of even basic sustenance was absolute, and survival became a daily battle aachievest starvation,” one miner was enrolled as saying.
Mkwayi says the men he saved were so frail that the save cage that is only uncomferventt to carry seven well grown-ups could apshow 13 of them.
“They were very dehydrated and had lost weight so we handled to fit more into the cage, becainclude they wouldn’t have endured another two days down in the hole. They would be dead if we didn’t get them out as soon as possible.”
The volunteers were also in accuse of transporting up dead bodies.
“The save services gave us bags and tgreater us to put the bodies in them and transport them up in the cage which we did with the help of some of the miners.”
The save operation was initiassociate uncomferventt to last at least a week, but after fair three days, the volunteers shelp no-one was left underground.
The authorities sent a camera down the shaft to do a final sweep. They say the mine will now be lastingly sealed.
But the experience has meaningfully impacted Mkwayi.
At one point during the call he asks for a ask to be repeated, elucidateing that his hearing has been impacted since going down into the mine, presumably by the prescertain.
But the challengingest impact has been from what he witnessed.
“I have to inestablish you, I am traumatised. I will never forget the sight of these people for the rest of my life.”
For activists and trade unions helping the community, the death of the 87 people in the mine amounts to a “massacre” perpetrated by the authorities.
The include of the emotive word has drawn comparisons with the shooting dead by police of 34 striking miners in Marikana, some 150km (93 miles) away from Stilfontein, in 2012.
But this time no triggers were pulled. Instead it seems many of the men starved to death.
The authorities refute the idea they were reliable.
The handlement startd the crackdown on illegal mining in December 2023 thcimpolite Operation Vala Umgodi (uncomferventing “shut the hole” in isiZulu).
The aprohibitdoned mines had been apshown over by gangs, normally led by establisher includeees, which sgreater what was set up on the bconciseage labelet.
People were co-selected into this illegal trade, either by force or voluntarily, and made to spfinish months underground digging for minerals. The handlement says illterrible mining cost South Africa’s economy $3.2bn (£2.6bn) in 2024 alone.
As part of the police operation, entry points at various disincluded mines were blocked, aextfinished with food and water supplies, in a bid to flush out the illterrible miners, understandn locassociate as zama zamas (which transtardys as “apshow a chance”).
While Vala Umgodi was hugely accomplished in other provinces, the greater Buffelsfontein ggreater mine currented a exceptional dispute.
Prior to the police operation, most of the miners were only able to get underground thcimpolite a produceshift pulley system functiond by people at the surface.
But they then aprohibitdoned the top of the mineshaft when security officials reachd in huge numbers in August, leaving those in the mine stranded.
Community members then stepped in to help, pulling a scant people up using ropes, but this was a extfinished, arduous process.
Other difficult and hazardous exits were includeable and in all csurrfinisherly 2,000 resurfaced – most were arrested and remain in police custody.
Why others did not come out is not evident – they may have been too frail or were being menaceened by gang members in the mine – but they were left in hopeless circumstances.
Out of the 87 who died, only two have been identified, police shelp on Thursday, elucidateing that the fact that many were unwrite downed migrants made the process challenginger.
“We hgreater the watch that handlement has blood on its hands,” Magnificent Mndebele from the Mining Affected Communities United in Action group (Macua), tgreater the BBC.
He disputed that the miners were given no alerting about what was about to happen before the police operation began.
Over the past two months, Macua has been at the forefront of the various court battles startd to compel the handlement to first apexhibit supplies and then underapshow a save operation.
Its blaming of the handlement echoes earlier statements from families who had shelp that the authorities had finished their adored ones.
They had apshown a challenging line since the operation intensified. In November, one minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, made the now inwell-understandn statement during a press inestablishing that they were going to “smoke them out”.
The state declined to apexhibit food to be sent down or anyone to help get back the miners, only caving in after cut offal accomplished court applications.
In November, petite portions of instant maize and water made it down the shaft, but in a court statement, one of the miners shelp it was not enough for the hundreds of men down below, many of whom were too frail to even chew and swapexhibit them.
More food was dedwellred in December, but aachieve it could not sustain the men.
Given that the operation to transport up the men and bodies lasted fair three days, what is challenging for Mr Mndebele to understand is why this could not have been done sooner, when it was evident there was an rehire.
“We’re disassigned by our handlement, frankly put, becainclude this help has come too tardy.”
While the handlement is yet to establishassociate react to these accusations, police have vowed to persist with the expansiver operations to evident the country’s disincluded mines until May this year.
Speaking to journacatalogs in Stilfontein on Tuesday, Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe was unapologetic. He shelp the handlement would intensify the fight aachievest illterrible mining, which he labelled a crime and an “strike on the economy”.
On Thursday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was a little more conciliatory.
“I do understand and acunderstandledge that this is an emotional rehire. Everyone wants to appraise… but it would help all of us as South Africans to painclude until pathologists have done and finishd their job,” he shelp.
The police have deffinished their actions, saying providing the miners with food would have “apexhibited criminality to thrive”.
Illterrible miners have been accincluded of nurtureing criminality in the communities where they function.
A number of stories have been rehireed in local media joining the zama zamas to various violations and homicides.
But for Mkwayi, who put his own defendedty on the line to help the miners, the men in the Stilfontein mine were fair trying to produce a living.
“People went down 2km with a rope and dangered their dwells to put food on the table for their families.”
He shelp he wants the handlement to give licences to artisanal miners who are forced to go into disincluded mines due to South Africa’s high unincludement rate.
“If your children are hungry, you won’t skinnyk twice about going down there becainclude you have to feed them. You’ll danger your life to put food on the table.”
