Inside South Africa's 'ruthless' gang-controlled gold mines

Along with astir 600 different men, Ndumiso lives and works successful a tiny gang-controlled "town" - implicit with markets and a reddish airy territory - that has grown up heavy underground astatine a disused golden excavation successful South Africa.

Ndumiso told the BBC that aft being laid disconnected by a large mining firm, helium decided to articulation the pack successful its underground satellite to go what is known arsenic a "zama zama", an amerciable miner.

He digs for the precious metallic and surfaces each 3 months oregon truthful to merchantability it connected the achromatic marketplace for a immense profit, earning much than helium ever did earlier - though the risks present are acold higher.

"The underground beingness is ruthless. Many bash not marque it retired alive," said the 52-year-old, who spoke to the BBC connected information that his existent sanction was not utilized arsenic helium feared reprisals.

"In 1 level of the shaft determination are bodies and skeletons. We telephone that the zama-zama graveyard," helium said.

But for those who survive, similar Ndumiso, the occupation tin beryllium lucrative.

While helium sleeps connected sandbags aft back-breaking days underground, his household lives successful a location helium has bought successful a township of the main city, Johannesburg.

He made currency payments of 130,000 rand (about $7,000; £5,600) for the one-bedroom house, which helium has present extended to see different 3 bedrooms, helium said.

An amerciable miner for astir 8 years, Ndumiso has managed to nonstop his 3 children to fee-paying schools - 1 of whom is present successful university.

"I person to supply for my woman and children and this is the lone mode I know," helium said, adding that helium preferred to toil underground alternatively than adding to the precocious transgression complaint by becoming a car-hijacker oregon robber, aft spending galore years trying to find ineligible work.

His existent occupation is astatine a excavation successful the tiny municipality of Stilfontein, astir 90 miles (145km) south-west of Johannesburg, which is astatine the centre of planetary attention aft a authorities minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, promised to "smoke out" the hundreds of miners who were underground there, with the information forces preventing nutrient and h2o from being sent down.

"Criminals are not to beryllium helped. Criminals are to beryllium persecuted," Ntshavheni said.

A run group, The Society for the Protection of Our Constitution, has launched a tribunal lawsuit to request entree to the mineshaft, which constabulary accidental is astir 2km (1.2 miles) deep.

The tribunal has fixed an interim ruling, stating that nutrient and different essentials could beryllium delivered to the miners.

Ndumiso works astatine a antithetic shaft astatine the mine, and surfaced past month, earlier the existent stand-off.

He is present waiting to spot however the concern unfolds, earlier deciding whether to return.

The stand-off follows a authorities determination to ace down connected an manufacture that has spiralled retired of control, with mafia-like gangs moving it.

"The state has been grappling with the scourge of amerciable mining for galore years, and mining communities bore the brunt of peripheral transgression activities specified arsenic rape, robbing and harm to nationalist infrastructure, among others," said Mikateko Mahlaule, president of the parliamentary committee connected mineral resources.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said the excavation was a "crime scene", but constabulary were negotiating with the miners to extremity the stand-off, alternatively than going down to apprehension them.

"Law-enforcement authorities person accusation that immoderate of the miners whitethorn beryllium heavy armed. It is well-established that amerciable miners are recruited by transgression gangs and signifier portion of wider organised transgression syndicates," helium added.

Ndumiso was among hundreds of thousands of workers - some locals and nationals of neighbouring states similar Lesotho - who person been retrenched arsenic South Africa's mining manufacture has gone into diminution implicit the past 3 decades. Many of these person gone connected to go "zama zamas" astatine the abandoned mines.

South Africa-based Benchmark Foundation researcher David van Wyk, who has studied the industry, said determination were astir 6,000 abandoned mines successful the country.

"While they are not profitable for large-scale concern mining, they are profitable for small-scaling mining," helium told the BBC Focus connected Africa podcast.

Ndumiso said helium utilized to enactment arsenic a drill operator, earning little than $220 (£175) a month, for a gold-mining institution until helium was laid disconnected successful 1996.

After struggling for the adjacent 20 years to find a full-time occupation due to the fact that of South Africa's crushingly precocious unemployment rate, helium said helium decided to go an amerciable miner.

There are tens of thousands of amerciable miners successful South Africa, with Mr Van Wyk saying they fig astir 36,000 unsocial successful Gauteng state - the country's economical heartland, wherever golden was archetypal discovered successful the 19th Century.

"Zama zamas volition often walk months underground without surfacing and beryllium heavy connected extracurricular enactment for nutrient and different necessities. It is arduous and unsafe work," said a study by run radical Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.

"Some transportation pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic weapons to support themselves from rival gangs of miners," it added.

Ndumiso told the BBC that helium did ain a pistol, but helium besides paid his pack a monthly "protection fee" of astir $8.

Its heavy equipped guards fend disconnected threats, particularly from Lesotho gangs reputed to person much lethal firepower, helium said.

Under the 24-hour extortion of the gang, Ndumiso said helium utilized dynamite for rock-blasting and rudimentary tools specified arsenic a prime axe, spade and chisel to find gold.

Most of what helium finds helium gives to the pack leader, who pays him a minimum of $1,100 each 2 weeks. He said helium was capable to support immoderate gold, which helium sells connected the achromatic marketplace to apical up his income.

He was among the fortunate miners to person specified an arrangement, helium said - explaining that others were kidnapped and taken to the shaft to enactment similar enslaved labourers, receiving nary outgo oregon gold.

Ndumiso said helium usually stayed underground for astir 3 months astatine a time, and past came up for 2 to 4 weeks to walk clip with his household and merchantability his gold, earlier going backmost into the heavy pits.

"I look guardant to sleeping connected my furniture and eating home-cooked meals. Breathing successful caller aerial is an amazingly almighty feeling."

Ndumiso does not travel retired much often successful lawsuit helium loses his digging spot, but aft 3 months it gets excessively overmuch to stay underground.

He recalled that erstwhile once helium reached the surface: "I was truthful blinded by the sunlight that I thought I had gone blind."

His tegument had besides go truthful airy that his woman took him for a aesculapian check-up: "I was honorable with the doc astir wherever I lived. He did not accidental anything, and conscionable treated me. He gave maine vitamins."

Above crushed Ndumiso does not conscionable relax. He besides works with different amerciable miners arsenic ore-bearing rocks brought up from beneath are blasted and crushed into good powder.

This is past "washed" by his radical astatine a makeshift works to abstracted the golden utilizing unsafe chemicals similar mercury and sodium cyanide.

Ndumiso said helium past sells his stock of the golden - 1 gram for $55, little than the authoritative terms of astir $77.

He said helium has a ready-made buyer, whom helium contacts via WhatsApp.

"The archetypal clip I met him I did not spot him truthful I told him to conscionable maine successful the car parkland of a constabulary station. I knew I would beryllium harmless there.

"Now we conscionable successful immoderate car park. We person a scale. We measurement the golden connected the spot. I past manus it to implicit to him, and helium pays maine successful cash," helium said, pointing retired that helium walks distant with betwixt $3,800 and $5,500.

He gets this magnitude each 3 months, meaning his mean yearly income is betwixt $15,500 and $22,000 - acold much than the $2,700 helium earned arsenic a legally employed miner.

Ndumiso said the pack leaders earned acold more, but helium did not cognize however much.

As for the purchaser of his gold, Ndumiso said helium did not cognize thing astir him, but that helium was a achromatic antheral successful an amerciable manufacture that involves radical of antithetic races and classes.

This makes it hard to clamp down connected the transgression networks, with Mr Van Wyk saying the authorities was targeting miners - but not the "kingpins surviving successful the leafy suburbs of Johannesburg and Cape Town".

Mr Ramaphosa said that amerciable mining was costing "our system billions of rands successful mislaid export income, royalties and taxes", and the authorities would proceed to enactment with mining firms "to guarantee they instrumentality work for rehabilitating oregon closing mines that are nary longer operational".

Mr Van Wyk told the BBC Focus connected Africa podcast that the authorities would worsen South Africa's economical situation if it clamped down connected the "zama zamas".

"There should beryllium a argumentation to decriminalise their operations, to amended organise them and to modulate them," helium added.

When Ndumiso goes backmost underground to work, helium takes with him cartons of canned nutrient to debar paying the exorbitant prices astatine the "markets" that beryllium there.

Apart from food, basal items - similar cigarettes, torches, batteries - and mining tools were sold there, helium said.

This suggests that a assemblage - oregon a tiny municipality - had developed underground implicit the years, with Ndumiso saying determination was adjacent a reddish airy district, with enactment workers brought underground by the gangs.

Ndumiso said the excavation wherever helium worked was made up of respective levels, and a labyrinth of tunnels that connected to each other.

"They are similar highways, with signs painted to springiness directions to antithetic places and levels - similar the level that we usage arsenic the toilet, oregon the level that we telephone the zama-zama graveyard," helium said.

"Some are killed by rival pack members; others dice during rockfalls and are crushed by monolithic boulders. I mislaid a person aft helium was robbed of his golden and changeable successful the head."

Although beingness underground is perilous, it is simply a hazard that thousands similar Ndumiso are consenting to take, arsenic they accidental the alternate is to unrecorded and dice mediocre successful a federation wherever the unemployment complaint stands astatine much than 30%.