Diamond rush: Thousands travel to South African village KwaHlathi to make fortune from unidentified stones
news 2 min read
KwaHlathi: More than 1,000 fortune seekers on Monday (June 14) flocked to the village of KwaHlathi in South Africa`s KwaZulu-Natal province in search of what they believed to be diamonds after the discovery of unidentified stones in the area.
The people travelled from across South Africa to join villagers who have been digging since Saturday (June 12), after a herd man who dug up the first stone on an open field, which some believe to be quartz crystals, put out the word.
The discovery was a life changer, said one digger Mendo Sabelo as he held a handful of tiny stones. “This means our lives will change because no one had a proper job, I do odd jobs. When I returned home with them, (the family was) really overjoyed,” said the 27-year old father of two.
Unemployed Skhumbuzo Mbhele concurred, adding: “I hadn`t seen or touched a diamond in my life. It`s my first time touching it here.”
ALSO READ: EAM’s Kenya visit: India extends support to domestic progress, Indo-pacific discussed
The mines department said on Monday (June 14) it was sending a team comprising of geological and mining experts to the site to collect samples and conduct an analysis.
A formal technical report will be issued in due course, the department said.
The lack of an analysis of the stones has not deterred the fortune seekers as long lines of parked cars on both sides of the gravel road could be seen just a few metres from the open field, where the young, old, female and male dug through the soil with picks, shovels and forks to find riches.
South Africa`s economy has long suffered from extremely high levels of unemployment, trapping millions in poverty and contributing to stark inequalities that persist nearly three decades after the end of apartheid in 1994. The coronavirus pandemic has made it worse.
Some people have started selling the stones, with the starting price ranging from 100 rands ($7.29) to 300 rands.
The provincial government has since requested all those involved to leave the site to allow authorities to conduct a proper inspection, amid fears the people digging at the site could potentially be spreading the coronavirus.
ALSO READ: PM Narendra Modi highlights India’s commitment to restore degraded land at UNGA
Live TV
googletag.pubads().setTargeting('category', ["article","World","South Africa","Diamonds","KwaHlathi","Gems","Gem Stones"]); googletag.pubads().enableLazyLoad({ fetchMarginPercent: 50, renderMarginPercent: 50, mobileScaling: 2.0 }); googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); googletag.pubads().enableAsyncRendering(); googletag.pubads().set('page_url','https://zeenews.india.com/'); googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(); googletag.enableServices(); // OpenWrap code START here if(typeof PWT.requestBids === 'function'){ PWT.requestBids( PWT.generateConfForGPT(googletag.pubads().getSlots()), function(adUnitsArray) { PWT.addKeyValuePairsToGPTSlots(adUnitsArray); PWT.ow_BidsReceived = true; initAdserver(false); } ); } // No need to handle "else" part as we have A9 wrapper on page // OpenWrap code END here var FAILSAFE_TIMEOUT = 1000; // this timeout should be more than OpenWrap and A9 timeout setTimeout(function() { initAdserver(true); // calling this function with forced mode set to true so that GPT API is always executed }, FAILSAFE_TIMEOUT); }); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-article-rhs-atf-ad'); }); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1504525832454-0'); }); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1504525832454-2'); }); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1504526235866-6'); }); if(inad1){ googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-AS-Inarticle-1'); }); } if(inad2){ googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-AS-Inarticle-2'); }); }
} on_load_google_ad(PWT);
function on_load_fb_twitter_widgets(){ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.9"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
window.twttr = (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], t = window.twttr || {}; if (d.getElementById(id)) return t; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); t._e = []; t.ready = function(f) {
t._e.push(f); }; return t; }(document, "script", "twitter-wjs")); }
//setTimeout(function() { on_load_google_ad(); }, 5000);
setTimeout(function() {
on_load_fb_twitter_widgets();
}, 5000);
Source link
