Zama zamas undermine Gauteng with tunnels beneath roads and bridges

The Citizen

18-07-2025

Gauteng's highways and suburbs are on the brink as zama zamas erodes vital ground support structures.
Marius van der Merwe from QRF Task Team in an illegal mine tunnel on Wednesday in Benoni. Illegal mining in the area is causing major damage to infrastructure. Picture: Michel Bega
Zama zamas' illegal underground mining has reached the point where highways and roads around Gauteng are in imminent danger of collapse.
Geological research shows that the Witwatersrand reef system beneath Johannesburg is a sedimentary gold deposit formed millions of years ago by rivers and lakes.
Over the decades, legitimate mining carved out vast underground networks supported by rock pillars deliberately left intact to stabilise the ground.
Zama zamas are tunnelling under major roads
When those mines were abandoned, much of the gold remained. For zama zamas, those remnants are the prize.
To add to the instability, dolomite rock beneath much of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni is inherently unstable.
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Johannesburg is literally built on a hollow honeycomb. Research by the University of Johannesburg found flooded mine voids increase hydrostatic pressure on dolomitic rock.
A study by the University of Pretoria documented over 3 000 cases of subsidence and sinkholes across Gauteng, showing a clear link between disturbed dolomitic land and ground collapse.
Places like Springs and Brakpan on the East Rand are seeing bridges slowly erode and roads collapsing, like the Rondebult Road sinkhole, the Snake Road sinkhole and, now, the N12.
Bridges slowly erode and road collapsing
Private security operative Marius van der Merwe said: 'Roads are literally falling away. The unused part of Eloff Street extension in central Joburg has collapsed twice because there's nothing holding it up any more.
'It's not even a sinkhole in the traditional sense; it's a tunnel right beneath the road surface that's been hollowed out. And it's happening in multiple places at the same time.'
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Illegal mining activity has wiped out Main Reef Road in Benoni, near the Weltevreden landfill. Picture: Michel Bega
The Citizen has been there. Shafts lie exposed and gold washing takes place everywhere.
Inside the zama zama tunnels there is evidence of mining equipment, the bare basics, old filthy shoes and overalls, half-eaten meals.
Some zama zamas sleep underground every now and then, others stay for months.
Miners sleep underground
It's not unusual to be followed from underground while inspecting a zama zama site. Neither is it far-fetched to have an antiaircraft gun pointed at you from atop a mine dump.
Remotely looking like a threat, whether you look like you may rob the miners of their ore or interfere in any way, invites a bullet.
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Van der Merwe has been battling illegal mining for seven years, sometimes on behalf of clients and other times, because he has seen first-hand the damage done, even in neighbourhoods on the West Rand where he was raised.
Illegal miners primarily repurpose old and unused mine shafts and tunnels by blasting away support structures left behind by previous miners which hold up the roofs of the mines.
They also collect surface rocks and mine whatever else they can find that contains or may contain a smidgen of gold.
Massive underground maze threatens the stability
Right next to the M2 highway in downtown Joburg, stretching all the way to the old Eloff Street extension, a massive zama zama underground maze threatens the stability of all structures south of the double decker highway.
Rocks are crushed using pandukas, a homemade crushing device powered by electric gate motors, both underground and on the surface, quite openly.
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A section of the remaining tar of what used to be Main Reef Road in Benoni. Picture: Michel Bega
The same happens at Putfontein in Springs and a host of other sites, including Muldersdrift through to sites in Roodepoort and Mogale City.
Crushed rocks are washed using any available water source and the runoff, often containing poisonous chemicals like mercury and cyanide, flows back into the groundwater system, eventually into rivers and dams.
Van der Merwe is presently engaged with communities where water pollution is not only threatening people, but also wildlife in far northwest Rand reserves.
Entire community spring up catering to zama zamas
On the Putfontein side of Benoni close to the N12, an entire community has spring up catering to zama zamas.
Brothels, fast food, a creche. It's all there. All out in the open, thriving freely while Rome burns.
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Van der Merwe spoke of an incident when his team chased illegal miners away from the foundations of the N17 highway bridge.
'They were removing the rock that supports the bridge itself because it contained traces of gold.
'That's the level of damage.
'National infrastructure threat'
'It's not just a community issue; it's a national infrastructure threat.'
The police had not responded to questions about what law enforcement is doing about the scourge by the time of publication.
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