This after the authorities received a plea letter from the miners on Monday, 18 November, requesting ARVs.

The announcement was made on Monday after the North Gauteng High Court issued an interim order.

The court ruled that the shaft may not be blocked by any person or institution, whether government or private, on Saturday, 16 November.

Deputy national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili said that the court order required providing the necessary medication to ensure the safety of lives.

She said if ARVs are one of the requests being made, then it will be done in a coordinated manner.

Resident Manana Mosostho said that while the public sees illegal miners as criminals, the community of Khuma views them as providers.

“I have a neighbour who is currently underground. This person is a foreigner but one of us. He got into illegal mining as a way of providing for his family. There are no jobs here. I am a witness to his job-hunting journey, which bears no fruit until he resorted to this,” she said.

Manana said that the government is failing them.

“If they close these shafts, then what must happen to us? Crime will obviously take its toll. Residents were making a living out of this; yes, it is illegal, but they were making a living out of it,” she said.

Manana said that this united the community.

However, since the operation to close the unused mine shafts began, the Khuma community has experienced an increase in crime, including housebreaking.

According to residents, these incidents indicate that illegal mining is seen as their only means to escape poverty.

On Tuesday, 19 November, a rescue team was deployed to retrieve hundreds of illegal miners who remain “trapped” underground.