South Africa is rich in precious metals hidden underground and mining was once the backbone of its economy. However, things have changed despite the country being amongst the top producers of minerals. Over the years, the sector has had to cut jobs and close many shafts as they were no longer profitable to run.
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KEY DRIVERS OF ILLEGAL MINING
This has unfortunately led to a new "
Due to rising unemployment, which is at record levels, poverty and criminal syndicates are the key drivers of illegal mining. Desperate people are exploited by these syndicates to do incredibly dangerous jobs in old, abandoned mines or areas, according to Allan Seccombe of Minerals Council.
He says these illegal miners, commonly referred to as zama zamas, tend to be former miners and are drawn from South Africa and neighbouring states which have historically provided the industry with employees.
Even though companies have mine-closure processes that are signed off by the state. As part of their closure processes, they seal shafts. However, zama zamas break into these mines to conduct their operations.
Allan says mining companies are not accountable for these illegal activities and trespassing.
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CRIMINAL ELEMENTS
The operation of zama zama in trying to strike gold has ramifications for the immediate communities. Allan points out that there's a level of intricate criminality that goes with illegal mining.
He mentions some incidents such shootouts with police, killings underground, turf wars and heavily armed gangs with powerful automatic rifles protecting the illegal miners. He says this points to the sophisticate and ruthless level of criminality involved in illegal mining.
For communities in which they operate, they are clearly a powerful, criminal element
Last month, a group of zama zamas attacked and raped eight women who were shooting a video at a Krugersdorp mine dump. The attack fuelled communities around the area, including Kagiso and Randfontein, to take the law into their own hands and root out illegal miners from their surroundings.
Unfortunately, the government is not also not realising any tax revenue from illegally mining and thus the mineral wealth of the country is not benefiting broader society as it does with legal mining.
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COMBATING ILLEGAL MINING
He says the Minerals Council and its member companies are working with communities on their social and labour plans to uplift communities near mines and remove the lure of illegal mining. He admits that alone won't be enough to deal with the issue.
"It will need a broad change in societal economic conditions, rapid growth of meaningful and sustainable employment, improved policing, and tougher sentences by the courts to address the problem," Allan says.
The Department of Mineral and Energy Resources acknowledged receiving our emails but didn't respond to the questions at the time of publishing.
