WATCH | Scores converge at Ekurhuleni town after gold discovery rumours

*Zoleka, a single mother, dug up two buckets of soil believed to have traces of gold and managed to make enough money to buy her kids food and nappies.

She is among dozens of residents of Gugulethu section in Payneville, Springs, on the East Rand, who went on a digging frenzy for gold particles believed to be scattered around a kraal. Since early last week, residents have been searching the area after news that one of them found gold.

The land belongs to the municipality but is being used by local farmers to keep their cattle.

“From just two buckets of soil I have been able to make money which I have used to buy groceries for my children and other basic needs in the house. I am an unemployed single mother, so when the opportunity presented itself, I rushed here to dig like everyone else.

“Many of us dig and don’t know what we are looking for, so we ask zama zama’s to help with sifting the soil. They know how to extract gold from the soil. Their services cost R100,” said Zoleka.

The area has been a hive of activities for a week, operating under the radar of law enforcement. People come armed with shovels to do their hive of activities.

Those managing the kraal have put up a makeshift fence and started charging the diggers R20, but the price has since gone up to R50.

Most of the hunters are unemployed foreign nationals.

Nosiphelele Mgijimi, who claims to be one of the owners of the kraal, told Sowetan the gold rush started onTuesday last week, with some groups of zama zamas digging in the kraal without their permission.

“When we asked them what they were doing they told us they saw gold. A lot of people started coming in overwhelming numbers. We then came up with the idea of charging them R50 as a fee to allow them to dig in our kraal. But we couldn’t control the influx ... some of them even damaged the fence. We are not even safe since this whole thing started,” she said.

Mgijimi said she and her partners own over 300 cattle that were initially housed at the kraal. She said they have been running the kraal on the municipal land since 2018, and it is their means of taking care of their families.

Phakamile Mbengashe, spokesperson for City of Ekurhuleni, said they were aware of the situation and the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) is monitoring the area for public safety and has escalated the matter with the department of mineral resources and energy for intervention.

“The city has been aware of this situation since Tuesday, after receiving a notice about someone who apparently found what is alleged to be seven grams of gold. What then happened was a gold rush to the area. This operation is illegal ... and the Ekurhuleni metro police are monitoring the situation for public safety.”

Last week, during his state of the nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government will deploy soldiers to deal with illegal mining in Gauteng.

A mining and environmental lawyer and director of Malan Scholes Inc, Hulme Scholes, told Sowetan that to mine one needs to obtain a mining licence.

“If people are digging for gold without a mining right or a mining permit, it is illegal. A landowner does not own the gold below the surface even if he owns the land.”

Scholes added that gold is seldom found on the surface and is normally in “bands” that are deep, at 2,000m or more.