Kimberley - Hundreds of men have set up their own diamond “mine” next to the road to Boshof after they were apparently kicked out of a neighbouring De Beers mining site just outside the city.
The men on Thursday claimed that they had been “legally” digging for diamonds at the De Beers site, between Samaria Road and the Kimberley Caravan Park, for more than two years, until a dispute over payment closed the site leaving them without any source of income and forcing them to embark on illegal activities outside the site.
Close to 500 diggers were on Thursday seen in the veld, which is clearly visible from the Boshof Road, sieving surface soil and sorting shallow debris and rocks with primitive sorting equipment.
According to the diggers between 1 500 and 2 000 prospective miners from across the country paid De Beers R100 per fortnight to search for diamonds at the site. All diamonds found had to be sold to De Beers and were not allowed to leave the site.
The men said that while numerous diamonds were discovered among the already processed soil, De Beers only paid them minimal amounts.
“The diamonds found at the site ranged from 0.25 carat to one carat, but R500 was the most any stone ever fetched. That was for a beautiful, flawless one-carat diamond.”
While the men felt they were being cheated, they continued to mine the site out of pure desperation. “Unemployment and poverty drove us here from across the country,” the men said.
All the finds were diligently noted in a book, according to the men, who added that this book would prove that they were paid “peanuts” for the diamonds they unearthed.
They added that they were under the impression that they were considered “legal miners”, who paid for the right to mine at the site.
“It is only when the De Beers officials decided to increase the ‘digging fee’ to R150 per fortnight that the problems started.
“When we told them that we couldn’t afford the increase, the problems started. The officials said that they would call the police to remove us.
“On August 9, the police did come but no-one was there as the officials warned us not be at the site. We have been met by closed gates at the site since then.”
Now the men are desperately trying to find some stones they could sell back to De Beers when the site opens again. They added that they were told that they could return on Monday.
“We have paid our fees and will return to the site regardless of what De Beers or the police say,” they said.
They also called on the provincial government to intervene, saying that they were being denied access to their own land and minerals.
“They make us pay for digging for them and then pay us a pittance for the diamonds we find. It is not cheap labour but rather slave labour. They don’t care about people, only money. We call on the Premier and Department of Mineral Recourses to review the granting of mining licenses and give the land and its resources back to the people.”
De Beers was not available for comment.
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