Illegal miners at Kleinzee, in the Northern Cape, where 13 miners died underground when a mine collapsed earlier this week, have vowed to continue mining. Strong police and private security officials presence has not deterred them.
Hundreds of Zama Zamas who include nationals from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and South Africans say they are illegally mining due to lack of employment opportunities.
During a SABC News crew visit to the former De Beers mine some of the hundreds of Zama Zamas from Southern parts of Africa were continuing to mine. Previously there has been scuffles between police and the Zama Zamas.
But it was soon over and it is business as usual, with illegal diamond mining going ahead.
“We are not giving up, it’s war we are fighting, we are not going anywhere these laws must change, these law of apartheid, of depression must change, capitalists must go away.”
“We are going to work here, we have changed the strategy because people are dying. We are trying to open those passes so that we can continue just like that we are not scared. We are here to work because, we have people who are depending on us, who put their needs on us, so we are here to solve that problem.”
A Zimbabwean national, Thando Zdobo who came to South Africa escaping harsh realities of poverty in her home country, says she has been making a living by selling food to illegal miners.
She says the money she is making has assisted her to put bread on the table for her family.
“I came to look for money because I am cooking for people. I dig also to find money that is why I came. Where we stay there is no jobs, we are struggling. I come from Zimbabwe, the situation for everyone in Zimbabwe that is why I came to make a living for our children.”
There have been mixed reactions from Kleinzee locals about the Zama Zamas.
Some residents who did want to be interviewed for fear of victimization say there has been a slight increase of crime in the area since the illegal miners flocked to their area.
While others urge authorities to allow them to operate to make a living.
It is still not clear whether more bodies will be retrieved from the deadly mine and the deceased are yet to be identified.
