South African rescue workers retrieved 78 bodies from a disused gold mine in Stilfontein where hundreds of illegal extractors have been involved in a months-long standoff with the authorities. Civil rights groups said at least 100 people died from starvation after the mine was sealed off by the security forces to deny those underground access to food to force them to the surface. 

Bloomberg’s S’thembile Cele has been on the ground at the Buffelsfontein mine and joins Jennifer Zabasajja, to explain who the miners were, why the government was so keen to crack down on illegal mining - and how the operation ended in such tragic circumstances.

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