Illegal mining | Zama zamas causing costly infrastructure damage

JOHANNESBURG - Illegal mining is damaging infrastructure, at great cost to everyone.

From cracked ceilings and tiles to bursting of crucial water pipe lines that supply large communities.

READ: Mantashe shuts down suggestions that zama zamas be trained to solve illegal mining crisis

The ripple effect means water bills are higher and supply to entire municipalities threatened.

“In order to leach their gold, they often use sewage pipes which they perforate in order to obtain water for the leaching process or water pipes," said Mariette Liefferink from the Federation For Sustainable Environment.

"And that of course also has an impact because then we find that there is a significant ecological degradation of pollution as a result of sewage pollution or sewage spillage.”