The New Yorkerのインスタグラム(newyorkermag) - 2月25日 11時00分

Welkom, South Africa, was once the center of the world’s richest goldfields. After the mining industry collapsed, in the 1990s, a dystopian criminal economy emerged in its place. Thousands of miners, who came to be known as zama-zamas, entered the abandoned tunnels, hoping to strike it rich—but many remained in poverty, or died underground. The conditions in the mines are gruelling; temperatures can exceed 100 degrees, with suffocating humidity. Rockfalls are common, and rescuers have encountered bodies crushed by boulders the size of cars. Owing to the difficulty of entering the mines, zama-zamas often stayed underground for months. “I think they all go through hell,” said a doctor who has treated dozens of the miners. The men he saw had turned gray for lack of sunlight, their bodies were emaciated, and most of them had tuberculosis from inhaling dust in the unventilated tunnels. They were blinded for hours upon returning to the surface.

But perhaps the biggest dangers stem from the syndicates that have seized control of the illicit gold economy. Armed militias war over turf, both at the surface and underground, carrying out raids and executions. Zama-zamas pay exorbitant fees to enter the mines, to receive food once they’re in, and, eventually, to exit—effectively trapping some miners underground. Mine workers who refused bribes faced threats from the syndicates, and some ended up dead. Read more about the dystopian underworld at the link in our bio. Illustration by @jonathan_djob_nkondo.

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