Instead of benefiting from their natural resources, the community of Muyexe, outside Giyani, is left with the mammoth task of filling in the deep trenches left by Zama Zamas (illegal miners) who came searching for their fortune.
Since the Council for Geoscience (CGS) in South Africa's announcement last year that the area might have some natural gold deposits, people from all over the country and abroad started flocking to the village. Their arrival with sophisticated mining equipment brought hope of employment opportunities and development in their area, but alas, this did not happen. These men did everything themselves.
After the visitors had made a killing for themselves from the village's natural coffers, they packed up and left again, leaving the community, who sat watching from the sidelines like spectators, to clean up after them. The fields served as main food source for many unemployed residents from the area, but all that is left, they cry, is destruction.
One of the concerned residents, Mr John Mahosi, said the arrival of the Zama Zamas in their village had only brought more hardship for the already poverty-stricken community. "It all started last year when this group descended on our village with their sophisticated machinery. They had apportioned themselves pieces of land across our fields without our knowledge and started digging. At the start, we thought that the locals would benefit from this operation, but it was not to be," Mahosi said. "Our people have suffered great losses here because of these big trenches. This community depends highly on the fields, and now they cannot use them. Livestock cannot graze safely here anymore as they fall into these holes. There are very bad smells coming from these holes and when you look inside, you find dead goats and cattle," he said.
The local traditional leader of the village, Hosi Simon Maluleke, said he had done everything he can to stop these illegal activities, but he had still not received any support from the government. "We are really suffering as a community while the Zama Zamas enjoy their finds from our resources. Government should intervene as a matter of urgency, for the sake of the local community, and before the gold is depleted," he said.
Captain Matimba Maluleke of the Hawks in Limpopo confirmed that illegal mining is rife in many parts of the province. "In this instance we went to the area in February 2022, where we managed to seize different types of mining equipment. Unfortunately, no one was arrested, but we are busy conducting operations to make sure that illegal mining activities come to a stop."