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People watch as Senzo Mchunu, South African police minister (not pictured), inspects outside the mineshaft where it is estimated that hundreds of illegal miners are believed to be hiding ...
Zama zamas are illegal artisanal miners in South Africa who occupy closed or operational mines to mine for minerals such as gold, iron ore, coal, and manganese. The term zama zama loosely translates to "take a chance" in isiZulu and they use rudimentary tools and explosives for mining.
South Africa's illegal miners – called zama zamas, or "take a chance" in colloquial Zulu – are estimated to number more than 50,000, a tenfold increase in two decades.
A South African court ordered police to end a standoff with illegal miners to allow emergency workers to gain access to a mine shaft where several hundred are believed to remain after the ...
But Mnguni said these particular miners were not criminals but former mine employees who had been put out of work when mines closed and were left desperate. “The miners go back to the mine because they live in poverty,” he said. ___ Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. 01/13/2025 16:52 -0500
Rescuers are sending a cage-like structure into one of South Africa's deepest mines in an attempt to bring out survivors among hundreds of illegal miners trapped in an abandoned shaft underground ...
The Congress of South African Trade Unions and Solidarity both called for a thorough investigation. [19] [20] Malaisha Kipastofile, president of the Association of Informal and Illegal Miners of SA, called on the mines minister to enforce a code of practice that will ensure illegal miners can ply their trade safely.
Illegal gold miners, commonly referred to as "zama zamas", operate in abandoned mine shafts and use the empty gas cylinders, known as "phendukas", to process the stolen ore. The cylinders, often stolen, are first drained of gas, then cut open so that ore can be placed in them along with a steel ball which crushes the ore as the cylinder is rotated.