Summary
South African authorities have cut off food and water to force up to 4,000 illegal miners, known as “zama zamas,” to surface from an abandoned mine shaft in Stilfontein.
The government, calling these miners “criminals,” has pledged not to assist them, with Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni warning, “We are going to smoke them out.”
Over 1,000 miners have resurfaced and been arrested under the “Vala Umgodi” operation.
Illegal mining, fueled by declining gold production, often involves violent crime and hazardous conditions in abandoned mines.
The article doesn’t seem to say who is paying these workers to mine unless I missed it.
Because I’m guessing they aren’t all communal stakeholders.
I’m also guessing whoever is paying them isn’t being smoked out of wherever they are and being cut off from food and water.
Last thing i heard, Musk was still in the USA.