Zama Zama by Graeme Coetzer (with Chris Gibbons)
Loading player...
"It looked apocalyptic."
Veteran journalist Chris Gibbons sits down with journalist, TV producer and best-selling author Graeme Coetzer for a gripping conversation on Zama Zama: Inside the Illicit Mining Underworld. Together they unpack fifteen years of investigation into South Africa's illegal gold economy: from the desperate miners going underground to earn a wage, to the organised crime syndicates making billions off their labour. Graeme describes the astonishing VAT scam that saw stolen gold sold at a premium, the cottage industry of forged invoices and stolen ID books propping it up, and how a single company was accused of laundering an estimated 22 billion rand through the racket. He also revisits the tragedy at Buffelsfontein, where 74 people died underground, and shares the surreal story of one Zama who climbed 1.5 kilometres up an abandoned shaft to save his own life.
Graeme Coetzer's new book is Zama Zama: Inside the Illicit Mining Underworld.
Graeme Coetzer is a journalist, TV producer and best-selling author whose long-form investigations for Carte Blanche have delved into every layer of South Africa's illicit mining world.
Chris Gibbons is a veteran South African journalist and broadcaster.
Veteran journalist Chris Gibbons sits down with journalist, TV producer and best-selling author Graeme Coetzer for a gripping conversation on Zama Zama: Inside the Illicit Mining Underworld. Together they unpack fifteen years of investigation into South Africa's illegal gold economy: from the desperate miners going underground to earn a wage, to the organised crime syndicates making billions off their labour. Graeme describes the astonishing VAT scam that saw stolen gold sold at a premium, the cottage industry of forged invoices and stolen ID books propping it up, and how a single company was accused of laundering an estimated 22 billion rand through the racket. He also revisits the tragedy at Buffelsfontein, where 74 people died underground, and shares the surreal story of one Zama who climbed 1.5 kilometres up an abandoned shaft to save his own life.
Graeme Coetzer's new book is Zama Zama: Inside the Illicit Mining Underworld.
Graeme Coetzer is a journalist, TV producer and best-selling author whose long-form investigations for Carte Blanche have delved into every layer of South Africa's illicit mining world.
Chris Gibbons is a veteran South African journalist and broadcaster.
