Illegal mining threatens Blyde River and ecosystems beyond

Joining CapeTalk's John Maytham is Julia Evans, journalist at Daily Maverick.

Listen below:

One of South Africa’s most pristine water systems, the Blyde River is under siege.

It's due to a surge in illegal gold mining by zama zamas near Pilgrim’s Rest.

Scientists now warn that entire ecosystems, including downstream lifelines into Kruger National Park, are at risk.

Julie Evans' recent Daily Maverick article explores the consequences of this unfolding tragedy:

"It's been happening for the past few years, but the past two years it's been really prevalent."

- Julia Evans, Journalist -  Daily Maverick

"It causes all this erosion and it releases a large amount of sediment into the river and this has a knock on environmental effects."

- Julia Evans, Journalist -  Daily Maverick

Those effects, explains Evans, include turning sections of the river rust-brown, clogging its riffles with sediment, and choking fish eggs.

"The problem is that the Blyde River eventually runs into the Olifants River...and the Olifants eventually runs into the Kruger."

- Julia Evans, Journalist -  Daily Maverick

Evans says it's estimated that there around 2 000 zama zamas operating in the area.

Police operations have managed to catch some of them, she says, but the numbers mean a full crackdown isn't possible.

"SAPS arrested about 500 people in August - they have some sting operations that happen."

- Julia Evans, Journalist -  Daily Maverick

"You need a huge amount of security and budget to be able to monitor such a big area."

- Julia Evans, Journalist -  Daily Maverick

ALSO READ: Digging deep into the underground world of zama zamas