SOUTH AFRICA – Along with about 600 other men, Ndumiso lives and works in a small gang-controlled “town” – complete with markets and a red light district – that has grown up deep underground at a disused gold mine in South Africa. Ndumiso told the BBC that after being laid off by a big mining firm, he decided to join the gang in its underground world to become what is known as a “zama zama”, an illegal miner.

He digs for the precious metal and surfaces every three months or so to sell it on the black market for a huge profit, earning more than he ever did before – though the risks now are far higher. “The underground life is ruthless. Many do not make it out alive,” said the 52-year-old, who spoke to the BBC on condition that his real name was not used as he feared reprisals. “In one level of the shaft there are bodies and skeletons. We call that the zama-zama graveyard,” he said.

But for those who survive, like Ndumiso, the job can be lucrative.  While he sleeps on sandbags after back-breaking days underground, his family lives in a house he has bought in a township of the main city, Johannesburg. He made cash payments of 130,000 rand (about $7,000; £5,600) for the one-bedroom house, which he has now extended to include another three bedrooms, he said. An illegal miner for about eight years, Ndumiso has managed to send his three children to fee-paying schools – one of whom is now in university. “I have to provide for my wife and children and this is the only way I know,” he said, adding that he preferred to toil underground rather than adding to the high crime rate by becoming a car-hijacker or robber, after spending many years trying to find legal work. (BBC)

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