More than 350 Gold One mine workers who staged a sit-in since Friday have resurfaced, head of legal Ziyaad Hassam confirmed. Hassam said over 350 mineworkers resurfaced this afternoon and that those who remain underground are kept there against their will. Yesterday, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe declared the sit-in a hostage situation.

Hasaam they will confirm once the shaft has been cleared and checked for the remaining mineworkers. "We anticipate that the remainder will also be coming up to surface in the coming minutes, but we will confirm that once that has been resolved. We do think there is an end in sight. We certainly hope that everybody will be coming up to the surface. We will do a headcount to make sure that that is the case."

Mantashe said after he visited the mine over the weekend and discovered that three people had been badly assaulted and shoved out of the mine that he had to declare the sit-in as a hostage situation. "This weekend, we visited Gold One Modder East operations to engage with mine management and the workers on possible solutions to the underground sit-ins. Regrettably, the situation changed dramatically with evidence pointing to a hostage situation which required police intervention," Mantashe said adding that the fact that people were beaten up, meant they were kept against their will. "It became a hostage (situation) in the sense that three people came out underground heavily beaten. Once you begin to beat people up, it means they are held hostage. They are underground against their own will. Therefore, it should be dealt with as an offence that requires police intervention," he said.

Mantashe called on SAPS to mediate the situation and arrest those responsible for the hostage situation. Both AMCU and NUM have distanced themselves from the situation. In October 500 miners were held underground for three days as part of a strike by the mining union Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) to demand recognition. They were challenging the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) status as the only union recognised by the company. All the miners resurfaced when police threatened to use force to clear the mine.