South African police were in a standoff on Thursday with hundreds of illegal miners believed to be underground in a disused shaft, a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to "smoke them out".

South Africa's government says it will let thousands of illegal miners starve until they accept their fate and emerge from an abandoned shaft to face arrest.

The South Africa Police Service's Operation Vala Umgodi task team in the North West province has reaffirmed its call for illegal miners to return to the surface who are still underground. Police are in a standoff with hundreds of illegal miners trapped in a disused shaft.