Johannesburg (AFP) – Dotted across South Africa’s Johannesburg region, thousands of abandoned gold mines attract illegal mining activity, with criminal gang violence often spilling into nearby communities. Zamimpilo, just west of Johannesburg, sits atop an old deposit and residents of the informal settlement say they can’t be sure they will “wake up alive” as illegal miners — or ‘zama zamas’ — go about their business practically unimpeded.
