An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an attempt to “smoke them out” and arrest them.

The miners have been in a mine shaft in Stilfontein, in the North West Province, for about a month.

They have refused to cooperate with authorities because some are undocumented – from neighboring countries such as Lesotho and Mozambique – and fear deportation.

Illegal miners are called “zama zama” (“take a chance” in Zulu) and operate in abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales each year.

Many South African mines have been closed in recent years and workers have been fired.

To survive, the miners and undocumented migrants go underground to escape poverty and dig up gold to sell on the black market.

Some spend months underground – there is even a small economy of people selling food, cigarettes and cooked food to the miners.

Local residents have pleaded with the authorities to help the miners, but they have refused.

“We will smoke them out. They will come out. We will not send help to criminals. Criminals should not be helped – they should be persecuted (sic),” Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Wednesday.

The police are hesitant to enter the mine because some of the underground may be armed.

Some are part of criminal syndicates or “recruited” to be in one, Busi Thabane, of the Benchmarks Foundation, a charity that monitors companies in South Africa, told the BBC’s NewsDay programme.

Without access to supplies, conditions underground are said to be dire.

“This is no longer about illegal miners – this is a humanitarian crisis,” Thabane said.

On Thursday, community leader Thembile Botman told the BBC that volunteers had used ropes and safety belts to pull a body out of the mine.

“The stench of decomposing bodies has left the volunteers traumatized,” he said.

It is unclear how the person died.

Although the authorities have blocked food and water, they have temporarily allowed local residents to send down some supplies by rope.

Mr Botman said they had communicated with the miners through notes written on paper.

The police have blocked off entrances and exits in an attempt to force the miners to come out.

This is part of the Vala Umgodi, or “Close the Hole”, operation to curb illegal mining.

Five miners were pulled out on Wednesday with ropes, but they were frail and weak. Paramedics attended to them and then they were taken into police custody.

In the past week, 1,000 miners have turned up and been arrested.

The police and army are still at the scene waiting to detain those who are not in need of medical attention after resurfacing.

“It’s not as easy as the police make it seem – some of them fear for their lives,” says Thabane.

Many miners spend months underground in unsafe conditions to support their families.

“For many of them, it’s the only way they know how to put food on the table,” Thabane said.

Local residents have also tried to convince the miners to come out of the mine shaft.

“These people have to come out because we have brothers there, we have sons there, our children’s fathers are there, our children are fighting,” local resident Emily Photsoa told AFP.

The South African Human Rights Commission says it will investigate the police for depriving the miners of food and water.

It said there is concern that the government’s activities may have an impact on the right to life.

Minister Ntshavheni’s remarks have drawn mixed reactions from South Africans, with some praising the government’s steadfast stance.

“I love this. Finally, our government is not tiptoeing around these serious issues. Decisiveness will help this country,” one person wrote on X.

While others felt that the posture was inhumane.

“In my opinion, this kind of speech from the minister in the presidency is shameful and dangerous hate speech,” said one user.

Another wrote: “They are criminals but they have rights too.”

Illegal mining is a lucrative business in many of South Africa’s mining towns.

Since last December, nearly 400 high caliber firearms, thousands of bullets, rough diamonds and money have been confiscated from illegal miners.

This is part of an intensive police and military operation to stop the practice, which has serious environmental consequences.

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