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Carte Blanche

[FROM THE ARCHIVES] Zamas go legit

Video
25 July
๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐Ÿณ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿญ. With the thousands of ownerless and abandoned mines dotting the South African landscape, countless men and women work as illegal zama zamas, risking life and limb to eke out a meagre existence from the ground. Between crumbling mine shafts, falling rock and rival gangs, there is little security or hope of a real future in working this way. But from the Pongola region of KwaZulu-Natal, on the border of the Ithala Game Reserve, the Klipwal Gold Mine holds out promise that things could work differently. Carte Blanche investigates a cooperative model that the mineโ€™s owners and local zama zamas have adopted, bringing not only peace to the conflict-ridden property, but economic advancement for the miners.