Golden opportunity in South Africa
Black miners seek unused mineral rights held by white firms
July 21, 1997
Web posted at: 4:29 p.m. EDT (2029 GMT)
MPUMALANGA PROVINCE, South Africa (CNN) -- Joe Mhlanga hopes
to strike it rich in the mountains where he and generations
of black South Africans before him have burrowed into the
earth in search of gold.
White-owned corporations still control most mines here. And
strictly speaking, the work Mhlanga and fellow diggers are
doing in Mpumalanga Province is illegal.
But unlike the past, negotiations are under way to make black
ownership possible. In areas where corporate miners have
stopped looking for gold, the black majority government
elected in 1994 now supports miners in their fight to claim
mineral rights.
"There are a lot of mines around here and they are not using
these mines," Mhlanga told CNN. "So I don't know why it's so
difficult for them to give us these rights."
Ironically, a falling gold price strengthens the miners'
position, emphasizing their argument that they can make a
profit where the big companies no longer try.
"Sometimes you dig for about two or three months without
getting anything," Mhlanga said. "Sometimes you dig for one
day you get kilos (kilograms). It depends how rich the
(mine) is." One kilogram equals 2.2 pounds.
Bribing whites to sell gold dust
An older miner named Mkete remembers when the squatters did
their digging in secrecy. "We had to work at night and we had
to bribe whites to sell our gold dust."
"I don't know how old I am now," he adds, "but I was tending
the cattle as a youngster during Hitler's war."
And indeed mining methods in these mountains have not changed
at all since Mkete was young.
The gold-bearing ore is still dug out of the rock face and
crushed by hand.
If it's of a high enough quality, it is carried down the
mountain to a hand-cranked separator similar to those used at
the turn of the century.
Nevertheless, Mhlanga believes he can still achieve his
dream. He says there are hundreds of others like him, but
they fear mining openly, as he does. "They know they will be
arrested if they come out and say a word."
Instead, Mhlanga expects the others to continue to operate in
secret until the mineral rights no longer being exercised by
the white owners are transferred legally to those who want to
mine.
Johannesburg Bureau Chief Mike Hanna contributed to this
report.
Related story:
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.