Illegal gold mining has emerged as a growing challenge in Johannesburg, with abandoned mine shafts attracting thousands of informal miners, deteriorating environmental conditions and raising concerns over public safety. However, experts have cautioned against holding illegal miners solely responsible for the increasing number of sinkholes and land collapses across the region, pointing instead to the long-standing environmental damage caused by large-scale industrial mining.
The problem has intensified amid a sharp rise in gold prices, which has encouraged more people to enter abandoned mines in search of the precious metal. Known locally as ‘zama zamas’, a Zulu expression broadly meaning ‘taking a chance’, these illegal miners have been operating across several areas surrounding Johannesburg, particularly in the western parts of the city.
The growing mining activity has also affected nearby communities and charitable organisations. Cora Bailey, founder of Community Led Animal Welfare (Claw), which operates from the former offices of the Durban Deep mine in Roodepoort, said illegal miners had been active in the area for decades. However, their numbers have increased considerably in recent months.
In September, dozens of miners began digging for gold near her organisation’s premises. They also started drawing water from two large storage tanks maintained for the charity’s rescued and injured animals. With limited water supplies and irregular municipal deliveries, the organisation was eventually forced to restrict access to its premises to conserve the remaining water. Bailey said the situation had become increasingly difficult as the facility looks after around 100 animals.
Despite police intervention, the miners returned within days of an operation to clear the area. Bailey said police had earlier indicated that the scale of illegal mining was beyond their capacity to control effectively.
South African police have periodically announced arrests as part of efforts to tackle the illegal mining network. On October 19, authorities reported that 71 suspected illegal miners had been arrested across the country during the preceding week. However, researchers believe the actual number of people involved in such activities runs into tens of thousands.
The financial scale of the illegal trade is also substantial. A 2019 estimate by Marcena Hunter of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime suggested that nearly 10% of South Africa’s gold production, valued at approximately $1 billion, was being exported through illegal channels.
The crisis has also exposed the risks associated with police operations. In 2025, 93 bodies were recovered from a mine shaft in Stilfontein after authorities prevented food and water supplies from reaching people underground.
Experts attribute the persistence of illegal mining to several interconnected factors, including poverty, unemployment, rising gold prices, alleged corruption and inadequate enforcement of mining regulations. Mining companies are legally required to close abandoned shafts and restore damaged land after operations end. However, thousands of unsafe and abandoned mining sites remain across the country.
According to figures provided by Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe in response to a parliamentary question in 2025, South Africa had approximately 6,100 derelict and ownerless mines and 1,170 unsafe mine openings. These abandoned sites have created opportunities for illegal miners to continue extracting whatever gold remains underground.
Johannesburg’s history is closely linked to gold mining. The discovery of gold in 1884 triggered a major gold rush that led to the city’s establishment and subsequent growth. Although South Africa’s gold production reached its peak in the 1970s, the country remained the world’s leading gold producer for more than a century before losing that position in 2007.
The region is believed to still contain substantial gold reserves. The city government estimates that around 40,000 tonnes of gold remain underground, although extracting these deposits has become increasingly expensive as mining operations have to reach greater depths.
Meanwhile, the deteriorating condition of roads and land has become a political issue ahead of Johannesburg’s local elections scheduled for November 4. Politicians have repeatedly blamed illegal miners for the appearance of sinkholes and the destruction of infrastructure. Wemmer Pan Road, which once served as an important connection between the city’s central business district and its south-eastern suburbs, has suffered extensive damage, with sections reduced to exposed earth and excavation pits.
However, specialists argue that attributing the entire problem to illegal miners oversimplifies the causes of land subsidence. Rosalind Morris, an anthropology professor at Columbia University who has extensively studied illegal mining, said the geological composition of areas south and west of Johannesburg makes them particularly vulnerable to sinkholes. The region has porous dolomitic rock, which can become unstable when underground water levels fall.
She pointed out that large-scale industrial mining has historically removed enormous quantities of groundwater, significantly affecting the stability of the land. While intensive illegal excavation can also trigger structural collapses in certain locations, she said the phenomenon existed long before the recent expansion of zama zama activities.
Illegal miners have also frequently been blamed for violence in mining communities. However, researchers say much of the violence is linked to rival criminal groups fighting for control over access to abandoned mine shafts and the gold extracted from them. David van Wyk of the Bench Marks Foundation said the workers operating underground were often exploited as cheap labour, while armed gangs controlling the operations remained above ground and profited from the gold.
For many struggling communities, illegal mining has also become an important source of income. Vusi Cele, a youth representative of Mining Affected Communities United in Action in Khutsong, said the activity supported local livelihoods in an economically distressed township. He argued that providing legal licences to small-scale miners could offer an alternative to underground criminal networks and help bring informal mining under regulation.
The continuing crisis highlights the complex relationship between unemployment, organised crime, environmental degradation and the legacy of South Africa’s mining industry. While police action remains an important part of tackling illegal mining, experts believe that addressing abandoned mine infrastructure, economic deprivation and the environmental consequences of decades of industrial extraction will be equally crucial.
