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Gang wars erupt over abandoned mines in South Africa

– ‘Kidnap people underground’-

In an attempt to counter the mounting gang activity, South Africa’s police launched an illegal mining task force in September.

Still, the police are unable to tackle the problem directly, fearful of operating in the unfamiliar mines.

“Due to the informal nature of the trenches used by illegal miners, it is too dangerous for the law enforcement agencies to go underground,” admitted police spokesman Dlamini Lungelo.

Gangs “kidnap people underground and use them as their workforce,” said Sandile Nombeni, who works with non-profit Ekurhuleni Environmental Organisation.

Gangs take a cut for every 12-kilo (26-pound) bag of ground mined, significantly reducing a miner’s personal share.

“You need to provide them with a full plate of soil,” said an illegal miner from Zimbabwe, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal. “If you don’t do that, they can kill you.”

Some of the zama zamas, a muscular, sweaty group composed mainly of young men from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, extract the yellow nuggets in a makeshift factory in Springs.

It’s hard, noisy work: the illegal miners sift the dirt by rolling it in drums filled with hard metal balls.

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One miner, called Reynold, told AFP that a gang had recently killed his close friend.

“But I am determined to go back underground for another two months,” said Reynold, who lives in the small shanty town of Randfontein, west of Johannesburg.

If he survives, he’ll bring home 420 rand (Sh3,104) for every gram of gold he discovers.

“Since there is no work, this is how many people get by,” said Nombeni, who is calling for the legalisation of the informal mining sector, which the Chamber of Mines of South Africa estimates represents 5 to 10 per cent of the country’s annual gold production.

“In Zimbabwe, there is no more illegal mining. They have formalised small scale mining. And they don’t have any of the problems we are having,” said David van Wyk, lead researcher at Bench Marks Foundation, a non-profit organisation that monitors corporate social responsibility.

“If you look at the Netherlands you have far less problems associated with the sex trade there than you have in countries where it is illegal. We need to do something similar to that for small scale mining.”

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