Hundreds of residents of Gugulethu Informal Settlement outside Springs in Ekurhuleni say poverty and unemployment have pushed them to dig for gold on a nearby mine dump and inside a cattle kraal meant for livestock.
The land belongs to the municipality but is currently used by local farmers for grazing. Now it has become the centre of a desperate gold rush.
Residents, including some undocumented migrants from Lesotho and Mozambique, say they are digging purely to survive amid harsh socio-economic conditions and a lack of job opportunities.
Some saying they have been inspired by Zama-Zamas, seasoned illegal miners.
From early morning, men and women arrive with tools in hand. They dig inside the kraal and in the surrounding soil, saying unemployment has forced them to seize what they see as their only opportunity.
Generators hum while wheelbarrows, shovels, spades and buckets scrape through the earth. Bakkies arrive throughout the day to collect gold-bearing soil. Many of the diggers come from the nearby Gugulethu informal settlement, established in the early 1980s near the mine dumps.
Women in the midday carry lunch boxes for their men who have been sweating throughout the day.
David Meya, one of the miners, said he has been digging for four days.
“I haven’t made much from this soil, but I managed to buy groceries for my family,” he said.
A woman who asked not to be named said most of those digging are unemployed shack dwellers.
“When we get the opportunity to mine gold, we take it — and we won’t stop,” she said.
“When we are unemployed, the government doesn’t care. But when we find opportunities, they want to stop us.”
Khanyi Zondo, a mother of four who has been unable to find work, said she joined the digging on Sunday.
“I heard some people have received between R6,000 and R10,000. I’m still waiting for my turn,” she said.
Another resident, who has lived in the area for 22 years, said she joined the rush out of desperation. She claims the remnants of gold are sold to a buyer in Johannesburg.
But the activity has angered local farmers.
Kraal owner Motibang Mafeleka said he never gave permission for the digging.
“They started digging behind a tank near the kraal and then moved inside. I asked why they were digging,” he said.
“They don’t pay anything.”
Mafeleka said the destruction of the kraal has disrupted his farming operations.
“We no longer have a kraal. We used it when it rained, and now we can’t bring our cattle here.”
City of Ekurhuleni head of communications Phakamile Mbengashe said officials are closely monitoring the situation.
“Our immediate priority is the safety and wellbeing of residents in that area,” he said.
Mbengashe added that similar illegal mining activities have been reported elsewhere in Springs. The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) has met with Gauteng SAPS to gather intelligence.
“We will monitor the situation, meet with councillors, and take steps to stop this operation so it does not happen again,” he said.
Authorities say a raid on the illegal mining operation is expected before the end of the week.
For now, the kraal stands scarred and hollow a symbol of a community caught between survival and the law, and of the desperate choices people make when hope runs out.
