{"id":38353,"date":"2024-11-14T12:02:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T17:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/south-africa-cuts-supplies-to-thousands-of-illegal-miners\/14\/11\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-11-14T12:02:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T17:02:03","slug":"south-africa-cuts-supplies-to-thousands-of-illegal-miners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/south-africa-cuts-supplies-to-thousands-of-illegal-miners\/14\/11\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa cuts supplies to thousands of illegal miners"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to “smoke them out” and arrest them.<\/p>\n
The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein, in the North West province, for about a month.<\/p>\n
They have refused to cooperate with authorities as some are undocumented – coming from neighbouring countries like Lesotho and Mozambique – and fear being deported.<\/p>\n
Illegal miners are called “zama zama” (take a chance in Zulu) and operate in abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales each year.<\/p>\n
Many South African mines have closed down in recent years and workers have been sacked.<\/p>\n
To survive, the miners and undocumented migrants go beneath the surface to escape poverty and dig up gold to sell it on the black market.<\/p>\n