zama zamaslatest news & developments
Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, the late former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s son, was arrested for attempted murder on Thursday after a shooting at his Hyde Park residence

Organised Crime Index 2025: South Africa a continental hotspot for criminal networks

Human trafficking, cybercrime, drug routes and wildlife poaching are surging as South Africa becomes a regional crime hub

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
There are thought to be at least 50 000 informal miners working underground in South Africa. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Zama zamas on the agenda at alternative mining indaba

There are thought to be at least 50 000 informal miners working underground in South Africa

  • Umamah Bakharia
4 min read
Time running out: Relatives are desperately trying to rescue the scores of illegal artisanal miners who became trapped when a mine shaft in Krugersdorp was flooded. Photo: Fani Mahuntsi/Getty Images

‘I’m fighting for my sons’ lives,’ says father of trapped illegal miners in Krugersdorp

The relatives of illegal artisanal miners who are trapped underground in in a flooded mine shaft say that the authorities have failed to help them

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Standoff: Zama zamas mining at abandoned sites exacerbate environmental harm and cause security issues. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Illegal mining proliferates when the state fails to issue closure certificates and regulate compliance

The problem has wide-ranging socio-economic and environmental impacts, says a draft mine closure strategy

  • Eyaaz
6 min read
Members of The Ugly Veg Company sorting kale. Images by Derek Davey

Ugly vegetables create a beautiful story

A small agricultural miracle is transforming a community in the Cradle of Humankind

  • Derek Davey
14 min read
On Tuesday, motorists were robbed at gunpoint at the Crown Interchange during peak Johannesburg traffic. (Supplied)

Illegal miners arrested this week have not been linked to M1 highway robbery, police say

On Tuesday, motorists were robbed at gunpoint at the Crown Interchange during peak Johannesburg traffic

  • Umamah Bakharia
2 min read
A South African Police Services (SAPS) and South African National Defence Force (SANDF) joint operation on illegal mining in Durban Deep on November 29, 2023 in Roodepoort, South Africa. Illegal mining has been a continuing threat in South Africa for decades, with poverty, unemployment and crime driving the underground industry. (Photo by Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)

Artisanal miners ‘brutalised’ in SANDF clampdown

Army clampdown has led to assaults and the property of legal miners being confiscated

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read