Mpumalanga villagers make R40k a month with backyard quartz mining
Unemployment in Mpumalanga has led villagers to turn their backyards into crystal mines.
A Boekenhouthoek village resident in Mpumalanga is inside a tunnel mining quartz crystal. Picture: Jacques Nelles/Eyewitness News
Clarence Ford speaks to Alpha Ramushwana, Eyewitness News reporter.
Listen to the interview in the audio below.
Families in the Boekenhouthoek village have turned their backyards into mines to try and make some money.
Households have dug underground tunnels in their gardens to extract quartz crystals as they face a severe unemployment crisis.
ALSO READ:
Squalid state of toilets at Mpumalanga school shroud learners in indignity
Unemployment crisis worsens: 'We DESPERATELY need major reforms'
These quarts crystals can be sold and used to make jewellery, glass, and GPS devices.
By law, these minerals belong to the government but residents argue that what is beneath their homes is theirs, especially as the government has done nothing to address their unemployment.
“That is how they’ve made ends meet, that is how they have managed to feed their families… cars were bought with money they made from crystals they have found beneath their homes.”
- Alpha Ramushwana, Eyewitness News reporter
Ramushwana says that they can earn as much as R40, 000 per month selling these crystals.
One resident he spoke to dropped out of school in grade 5 and has managed to find some financial freedom through quartz mining.
While this does give them financial security, there are huge safety risks associated with this as their homes could collapse at any moment.
“It is desperation that is making them do this.”
- Alpha Ramushwana, Eyewitness News reporter
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.