Sinkholes and Scarred Landscapes: The Scourge of Unregulated Gold Mining in Johannesburg

JOHANNESBURG — Deep beneath the bustling freeways and suburban office parks of Johannesburg, thousands of informal miners—known locally as zama-zamas—descend daily into abandoned, century-old gold shafts, risking toxic gas asphyxiation and subterranean collapses in search of minute gold flecks.

The ecological and infrastructural fallout is reaching a crisis threshold. Surface sinkholes have begun destabilizing highway foundations and underground gas pipelines across the Witwatersrand basin, while heavily armed syndicates controlling the trade have sparked violent turf disputes, exacerbating xenophobic tensions across peripheral townships.