Zama Zamas test South African government's promise to crack down on illegal mining South African police have been in a stand off outside an abandoned gold mine with hundreds of illegal miners ...

Surviving on a diet of toothpaste and toilet paper, South Africa's notorious "zama-zama" illegal miners continue a weeks-long standoff with police in the darkness of a disused gold mine.

Zama zamas, meaning 'take a chance' in Zulu, are an illegal mining group operating in abandoned mine shafts across South Africa for leftover minerals. A few of the illegal miners have struck gold ...

Detained after being accused of controlling the illegal operations at an abandoned gold mine near Stilfontein in South Africa ...

In the small town of Stilfontein, some 90 miles from the city of Johannesburg, South Africa, hundreds, possibly thousands, of illegal miners—locally called zama zamas (which can be translated as ...

South Africa: Scenes From a Zama Zama Rescue Ihsaan Haffejee?Ground UP A system of ropes and pulleys has been set up to rescue zama zamas trapped deep underground in Stilfontein, North West Province.

In South Africa, police have spent weeks besieging an abandoned gold mine west of Johannesburg, waiting to arrest hundreds of illegal miners known locally as zama zamas. The miners are notorious ...