Johannesburg - Thousands of illegal miners are allegedly threatening water supply in the City of Joburg and wasting thousands of kilolitres a day by bypassing pre-paid water meters.
Both the City of Joburg and Johannesburg Water are concerned about what these illegal connections will do to the supply amid the countrywide drought.
One of the major hotspots identified is Matholesville in Roodepoort, where thousands of illegal miners and refiners are using a large amount of fresh water to purify gold.
To refine the gold, much water is needed, and this has resulted in zama zamas illegally connecting makeshift hosepipes to RDP houses, bypassing pre-paid water meters.
Conel Mackay, manager of the Johannesburg Roads Agency’s (JRA) infrastructure protection unit, said the reservoir in Roodepoort that supplies water to Matholesville and Tshepisong “is running dry due to the extra pressure that illegal water connections are putting on it”.
“As a result, Matholesville and Tshepisong have not had water for a few days,” he said.
Yesterday, the JRA, city officials, the SAPS and the Joburg metro police department visited several illegal mining and gold refinery sites in Matholesville to warn that illegal usage of water was a crime.
There, thousands of people worked feverishly to refine gold brought up by illegal miners.
Several makeshift hosepipes snaked their way into the mass of tin shacks and RDP houses behind the veld.
The water continuously flowed into large plastic and metal containers where workers took buckets and mixed water together with mercury and the refined rocks.
Shuffling their bodies up and down to crush the rocks flecked with gold, men and women of all ages said this was their only option to make money to send back to their families in Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Malawi.
Among them was 28-year-old Maria*, who said she had matriculated and done a diploma in secretarial work in Zimbabwe. “I’m educated, many of the people you see here have degrees, but there are no jobs in Zimbabwe. I have three kids to support back home. They want to go to school and need food as they are hungry.”
Sarah* said there was nothing she could do to better her circumstances. “This job gives me R100 to R500 a day, money I can send home to help my family. We are desperate and don’t have any options.”
Many of the women crushing the rock carried babies on their backs, with some saying they did so because they knew police wouldn’t be able to arrest them if they had children with them.
Colonel Andre Lang of the Roo- depoort police said the water from the illegal connections ran 24 hours a day because it bypassed the meters.
“Level 2 water restrictions are in place but in Matholesville there seem to be no water restrictions.”
In the past, police have conducted operations to shut down the mineshafts and the refinery areas, but within a few days, the zama zamas reopen the shafts and it starts all over again.
“We need bulldozers and excavators so that we can collapse the mine tunnels. If we stopped the mining at phase one it would stop the entire process,” Lang said.
The city has appealed to residents to be vigilant and inform Johannesburg Water of any illegal water connections on their property.
“Any Joburg resident found to have illegal water connections on their property and found to be supplying water to illegal miners could be held accountable and face criminal charges or a fine,” it warned.
* Not their real names
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