Mhlonipheni Mavuso, 40, was once a feared leader of 170 zama zamas and considered by a Zululand gold mine as public enemy number one.
In 2019 he led an uprising against Bosveld Mine in Klipwal, a small-scale artisanal gold mine just outside Pongola in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Mining machinery worth about R6m was destroyed and several staff members were attacked.
But an out-of-the-box approach nine months ago to launch a co-operative at the mine has seen zama zamas — illegal miners — and mine-owners lower their weapons to work in unison. And the truce, while still fragile, seems to be paying off.
Mavuso works for the mine with his own team, which is provided with personal protective equipment. They remove previously blasted ore and are paid per tonne by the mine.
I come from a family of zama zamas. Gold is in my blood and the mine my home... I grew up fearing the cops and hating the owners of the mine. That's just how you live as a zama zama
— Mhlonipheni Mavuso
For Mavuso, the war over territory was justified. The mine had been left idle from 2003 when the previous owners closed shop. Between then and 2019, when Quinton George and his team from GnT Mining bought it, underground mining shafts were overrun with zama zamas.
“I come from a family of zama zamas. Gold is in my blood and the mine is my home,” Mavuso told the Sunday Times.
“Everything I know about gold my mother taught me. In 2003 my brother was shot dead by security guards while he was being chased in this very mine. I grew up only knowing this life, fearing the cops and hating the owners. That’s just how you live as a zama zama.
“I started working in a mine in Kortnek when I was 10. On December 23 1997, I first came into this mine. I was 16 years old. Since then I never left. I was making about R400 a week when I was 16 because at that time the price of gold was very low. On the black market we would sell the gold for about R18 per gram, right now a gram is about R750.”
Mavuso has seen his fair share of tragedy as a zama zama.
“I’ve seen more than 10 people killed. Many were my friends. Some were shot, some were killed underground when there was a collapse, some crushed by rocks. It’s sad because in most cases we could never report their deaths or take them to hospital because what we were doing was illegal. We would carry their bodies to their families. I buried some of my friends right after they were killed.
• 170: The number of zama zamas who fell under the leadership of Mhlonipheni Mavuso in the Klipwal area
• 10: The amount of grams of gold Mhlonipheni and his team can produce a day, on average
• R750: The current average price for a gram of gold
— IN NUMBERS
“I was arrested in 2011 in this mine and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for illegal mining. That’s a place I never want to go back to.”
Bosveld mine manager Bongani Inkosi, 58, said their war with the zama zamas had resulted in much bloodshed.
“When we came here in 2019 we had a very difficult time with the zama zamas. Every day there was a shooting. They would blockade the roads and just make it unbearable for us to do any kind of work.”
He was tasked to find a solution.
“I was asked by Quinton to look for Mhlonipheni. But I didn’t go straight to him because he didn’t trust anyone. I got through to him via his friend. It took me a week to convince him to come and sit down with Quinton because there was still bad blood.”
An uneasy truce took hold.
“We have them work in teams. They remove the ore that has previously been blasted and take it to the weighbridge where we pay them per tonne,” Inkosi said.
“Obviously, we inspect the rock to ensure that it has gold and value in it. They get paid for what they pull out, we only take a small cut for processing the gold. We do not pay them a set salary, they are paid for how much they produce.”
Mhlonipheni said they are still working on building trust because of the lives lost in the past.
“It’s difficult because there are a lot of bad memories of what happened. I am trying to fix that though, to show them I am not that bad person any more. I want to change my life and I also want to change the lives of other zamas to show them that we can work peacefully with the mine owners.
“Things are much better when you work for the mine. I am not being chased by police. As a leader of the zamas I want to set an example to show them that this is the way.”
Sifiso Dladla, mining and extractive lead at Action Aid SA, welcomed the initiative by Bosveld Mine, but cautioned them to ensure talks did not turn sour.
“The approach is good, it’s empowering and also it’s going to contribute towards the curbing of illegality. The danger would be if one of the parties becomes greedy and talks break down. That could see the situation regress to worse than what it was before.”
Dladla said he would like to see Mavuso and the former zama zamas become regulated so they contribute towards the economy and benefit from labour laws.
“I think it will work because it is in KZN and is a small artisanal mine, unlike in Krugersdorp and other areas in Gauteng — those areas pose a far more complex issue when it comes to zama zamas.”
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