Illegal mining in South Africa: a standoff between illegals and government

 

forcing illegal miners out of the mines.

bad government? No. Many of these are essentially enslaved and kept there and the government is now trying to rescue them.

LINK and LINK third report more here:not mentioned: Aside from those making money giving them food, the reports never mention who is buying the gold and processing it.

Describing the conditions in the shaft, which the police have sought to check through camera surveillance, Mchunu said six to seven people who are at the top of the shaft are “commanding the whole thing”.“The food and water that trickle down would be under the control of those people. … They command everything there, and people below are kept against their will,” he said.,

it is not just exploiting the miners, but the crime wave associated with the business...

BBC Report. 

Illegal mining is a lucrative business across many of South Africa's mining towns. Since December last year, nearly 400 high-calibre firearms, thousands of bullets, uncut diamonds and money have been confiscated from illegal miners. This is part of an intensive police and military operation to stop the practice that has severe environmental implications.

The standoff makes it sound like bad government vs poor miners (who often are working this dangerous job because of poverty and unemployment). But it is more complicated than that, of course, because it is run by organized crime syndicates.

moneyweb reports:The illicit gold trade is loosely organised into a pyramid structure. At the top are white-collar criminals who launder gold from zama zamas into the legal gold market, with a hierarchy of buyers and middlemen beneath them. The miners are at the bottom...In Stilfontein, working in abandoned mines became impossible without paying them steep fees.One zama zama told GroundUp that it costs around R10 000 to enter and R25 000 to return. Local gold buyers would often front these expenses in return for a cut of the gold the miners produced. Many zama zamas became trapped in debt while underground, a cycle worsened by the high cost of food, which they paid for in gold.

many are immigrants from Zimbabwe or Mozambique.

Moneyweb has more reporting on the illegals behind this atrocity.

very complicated: of course politicians and mining corporations are involved.

no one wants to take the steps that are necessary. It’s like drugs on the Cape Flats. It’s very, very, very lucrative this business. So the kingpins who are involved, the politicians, the corporations, the security companies, the labour brokers and so on, who are all involved, don’t want this to end and they don’t want it to be legalised and regulated and controlled because that way they can’t get the gold as cheaply as what they’re getting it at the moment.

I still can't find the stories of those running the logistics behind these organizations. 

China is investing lots of money in South Africa and Zimbabwe mining but legal mines.

LINK

but no information about who is behind the illegal mining and diverting gold there into a legal market.

there is a lot of criminality behind the illegal mining. according to thie Univ Witwaterand report part of the problem is lack of laws that allow legal means to get the left over gold out of these mines

the result? 

Illicit trade of gold from artisanal and small-scale mining is now also being seen as a threat to international security. The World Gold Council estimates that as much as 20% of annual gold supply and 80% of gold mining employment comes from a supply chain controlled by criminal gangs and armed groups, abetted by corrupt governments.

so, alas, the story of the seige of miners by a government trying to shut down the operation misses the complexity of the story.