JOHANNESBURG: As he walks among the rusting iron pits in the informal settlement west of Johannesburg that he calls home, Lutho McHei points out streets filled with dirty rainwater on unpaved roads.
The consequences of illegal gold mining have fueled the high level of crime plaguing South Africa ahead of its toughest election in a decade.
“You never know when that gun might slip or you’re going to be forced,” said McHaye, 21, who said he hopes the vote will change.
Thousands of illegal miners, often called “zama zamas” – “probationers” in Zulu – are involved in dumping, processing and recycling the remaining gold ore.
Access to old mines is often controlled by pirates fighting for control.
Zamimpilo, Makhei informal settlement, sits in one such settlement.
Here, ordinary families on a years-long waiting list for government housing live side by side with miners – both groups remain in fear for their lives.
Nobuho Nowokoza said her 17-month-old daughter “could duck for cover if shot.”
Nowokoza, 38, is a South African who has lost faith in politics.
He said he will not vote on May 29.
After decades of apartheid, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) won freedom for all South Africans and lifted millions of us out of poverty.
The ANC is expected to lose its parliamentary majority for the first time.
In Zamimpilo, large pigs eat items from the central landfill while children play nearby.
The resident looks like a miner with a head torch covered with sand.
Illegal mining is a hotbed of crime in the country, killing more than 80 people every day.
In 2022, the brutal rape of eight women filming a music video near a mountain mine shocked the nation.
The government has vowed to crack down on illegal miners, who authorities say are mostly foreigners.
Thousands of people have been arrested since last year.
As AFP visited Zamimpilo, the raid is still ongoing, but residents say most of their belongings have been destroyed.
The police officer made a random road through the city.
The standoff followed the arrival of the police minister late last year.
Zamimpilo community leader Nokuzola Kwayede, 42, said: “They put the police here for three months, but illegal mining continues…” “nothing”
Authorities say there are more than 6,000 damaged and unclaimed mines in South Africa.
The government aims to restore and close the abandoned branches.
But experts say corruption makes this difficult.
“Our … intelligence is that some politicians are running this show,” said Dale McKinley, a senior research fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Department of Development Studies.
Next to Zamimpilo is the working class Riverlea.
There, cult leader Anthony Sherman wants to see Zamimpilo completely gone.
Big hats and fancy cars were parked near branches that looked like merchandise or funds, he said.
However, some illegal miners say they live in fear, with pirates adding to the dangers of a dangerous business.
“Many people died in front of me … I’m scared,” said the miner, who preferred not to give his real name and agreed to be identified by AFP as Thobani Mdunge.
Wearing a torn blue jacket and sweatpants, covered in scars and open wounds on his lower legs, he resumed his diet after a week.
Mining “destroyed my mental health,” he said.
Bandits sometimes sneak up on and rob miners.
However, he has no intention of resigning as his legal job prospects are slim.
Recently, he and his colleagues found R40,000 (about $2,100) worth of gold – a lot for some.
More than three million people in South Africa are classified as ‘multidimensionally poor’, lacking access to adequate health, education, water and sanitation.
“I will not stop this work,” said Mdunge.
