JOHANNESBURG - The face behind illegal gold mining in South Africa is that of a black man covered in dust. He is known as a zama-zama – a Zulu phrase that refers to one who takes a chance. And take a chance he does.
Nobody goes two to four kilometers into the bowels of the earth for fun. There is little space to move let alone work in and it gets hot down there.
The world’s deepest gold mine, the Mponeng Gold Mine, is situated in Carletonville, South-West of Johannesburg.
Temperatures underground are above 60 degrees Celsius. People can work there only because tons of ice is pumped into the mine.
But in mines that have been abandoned, like those where the zama-zamas work, the conditions are like the biblical hell.
READ: Illegal mining | Zama zamas emerge weak and in poor health
Mike Bolhuis, a crime expert, said unemployment and poverty were the main reasons people turned to illegal mining. Often, they would spend weeks, sometimes months on end, underground.
They are the worker ants. But rarely seen in an ant colony is the queen ant and according to Bolhuis, these are the sophisticated syndicate that, even now, remain faceless.
“It all starts when a mine comes to standstill. Equipment and infrastructure are looted, and, over a period of time, a mine shaft gets taken over. The operation then expands until the syndicate is in control of large underground area.
"The mining industry in South Africa is enormous and targeted by organised crime. They are strong because they have their contacts in the police and private security industry.
"It is money that makes and moves these people. There is financial influence but there is also extreme intimidation and violence. The rule is, if you talk, you die and if you don't get involved, you die. There is no consideration of what life is. You are just a pawn that can easily be discarded alongside your family," he said.
Nobody can say exactly how much is generated but estimates vary from a few billion rand to over R70 billion annually. Whatever the number, it is a huge dent for an economy that is trying to grow and badly in need of tax revenue.
For over a month now, South Africa has been clamping down on illegal mining around Stilfontein in the North West province. Some illegal miners have emerged. Others are either afraid of being arrested or forced to remain underground by heavily armed men.
READ: 14 more zama zamas surface at Stillfontein with a teenager among them
David van Wyk, a researcher at the Bench Marks Foundation, said there was a market for illicit gold.
He thinks it would be best if government found ways to legalise small scale mining which is also referred to as artisanal mining.
“If you legalise and control it, you can tax the revenue that comes out of those mines. In that way you can also measure how much gold is being taken out.
“However, to make this a reality you would need to create a central buying agency that would buy all the gold from small scale and artisanal miners. But you will create greater stability.”
It is something government is considering.
Makhosonke Buthelezi, spokesperson for the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, said two years ago, in 2022, government gazette laws on artisanal mining.
"There are about 1170 ownerless shafts, and we have closed many of them and for those mines that are required to do concurrent rehabilitation, we monitor them, " Buthelezi said.
Buthelezi said, the surge in illegal mining is a result of criminal syndicates that continuously reopen sealed mines.
He said to curb this issue, the "big fish needs to be nabbed".
Exactly who heads the syndicates remains unknown. But the next time you see a black dusty face, remember, every ant colony has a queen.
By Zandile Khumalo