LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In South Africa, police have spent weeks besieging an abandoned gold mine west of Johannesburg, waiting to arrest hundreds of illegal miners known locally as zama zamas. The miners are notorious in South Africa for taking over disused mines, often with extreme violence. Officials say they cost South Africa millions of dollars in lost mining revenue every year. Others argue that they're a symptom of economic desperation and dysfunction. To discuss, we're joined by journalist Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg. Good morning, Kate.
KATE BARTLETT: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So how did police there find themselves in a weekslong standoff?
BARTLETT: Well, the government has long promised to crack down on illegal mining, and the police have been running an operation called vala umgodi, which means close the hole. In one area called Stilfontein, they've surrounded the entrance the zama zamas use. And last week, a minister promised to, quote, "smoke them out." The miners don't want to come out because there's a police cordon, and they'll be arrested. And a lot of illegal miners are also migrants from neighboring countries like Lesotho and Mozambique, so they fear deportation. The exact number is unknown, although police now say 1,000 have already resurfaced and been arrested, and several hundred remain below.
So police cut off deliveries of food and water to them last week in an attempt to get them to come up, which drew condemnation from human rights groups who went to court. The court ordered police to allow supplies in, so that has resumed. But some of the miners are believed to be starving and very weak. Yesterday, police said miners had sent up a letter requesting antiretroviral drugs, as some of them have HIV, and the medication is now going to be sent down the hole.
FADEL: Tell us more about the zama zamas. Who are they?
BARTLETT: Sure. So zama zamas means one who takes a chance in the Zulu language. And that's an apt definition because when I've been out reporting on these zama zamas in the past, I could not believe the risks they take. They squeeze down these really small holes to get into disused mine shafts with no protective equipment - just a headlight - using ropes made of rags tied together. David van Wyk is a researcher at Bench Marks Foundation, a nonprofit that works on issues surrounding illegal miners. He says illegal gold mining is rife in South Africa because large-scale mining is no longer profitable.
DAVID VAN WYK: Many mines are shutting down, and tens of thousands of workers are losing their jobs. They are being retrenched. But the only way they can survive then is to go back down into the mine and try and get some of the gold that remains underground.
BARTLETT: The thing is, while the zama zamas are the poorest of the poor, eking out a living in these terrible conditions, many work for criminal syndicates, which are profiting immensely. Some in the mining industry have likened the situation to a war zone. You know, violent gangs run things, and many are heavily armed, which is why police aren't going down.
FADEL: Is there much public sympathy for these miners?
BARTLETT: From ordinary South Africans, I fear not. These zama zamas have a whole network of burrows that stretch for kilometers underground. Sometimes, they stay underground for weeks, even months. But critics say instead of going after these impoverished illegal miners, police need to target the mafia kingpins that run things.
FADEL: That's South Africa-based journalist Kate Bartlett. Thank you so much, Kate.
BARTLETT: Thank you.
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