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

Community members watch as Senzo Mchunu, South Africa’s police minister, inspects outside the mineshaft where hundreds of illegal miners are believed to be hiding underground, Stilfontein, South Africa, November 15, 2024 [Ihsaan Haffejee/Reuters]

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.

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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. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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