Unconfirmed reports claim efforts could start on Monday, to recover informal miners from an abandoned mine at Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg.

Unions and rights groups accuse the South African government of starving the miners.

The government and police say the miners are criminals.

More than 1,000 people have surfaced from the mine in recent weeks — many of them arrested as they emerged — and at least one dead body has been brought up.

Hundreds are thought to be still underground.

Local politicians and the media claim recovery efforts could start Monday.

Authorities have yet to confirm that.

Criminal syndicates control much of the informal mining industry in South Africa.

The sector has thrived, employing thousands from South Africa and the region, as mining companies have abandoned hundreds of mines
in recent decades.

Al Jazeera.