Trapped for gold: The dangers facing illegal miners in South Africa

Police are in a standoff with illegal gold miners, known as ‘Zama Zamas’ in South Africa.

Hundreds of illegal gold miners known as “Zama Zamas” are in an underground standoff against police in South Africa. Authorities are cutting off food and supplies to lure the miners out. As the standoff intensifies, their lives are threatened, thousands of feet below ground.

In this episode:

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Khaled Soltan and Chloe K Li, with Sarí el-Khalili, Ashish Malhotra, Manny Panaretos, Duha Mosaad, Hagir Saleh and our host, Kevin Hirten, in for Malika Bilal.