Paper short abstract:

This paper explores unregulated diamond mining activities in the Northern Cape province of South Africa after 1994. It highlights how the so-called ''illegal'' diamond miners struggle to access diamonds on land that they claim rightfully bequeathed to them by their ancestor.

Paper long abstract:

This study seeks to explore unregulated diamond mining in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa after 1994. ‘Illegal’ miners operating outside the parameters of the country’s main mining legislation are known as zama-zamas, a Zulu word which means “try and try again” (Madimu 2022). This name depicts their daily struggles punctuated by hard labour and regular confrontation with private mining capital and security agents. My study will examine the work of zama-zamas in the Northern Cape Province and explore the intricate details of their work routine as well as their plight to earn legal recognition. The Northern Cape Province has always occupied an integral position in South Africa’s mining history since the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1867. Since then, diamond mining remained in the hands of private mining capital, epitomized by De Beers Consolidated Mines. There is a paucity of literature on unregulated diamond mining in South Africa since available related literature focuses on ‘illegal’ gold mining. This study uses Nathan Andrews concept of ‘digging for survival and/or digging for justice.’ The concept mirrors the prevailing scenario in the Northern Cape Province where indigenous communities like those in Richtersveld, a diamond rich area, have had their title to land (which was expropriated by the colonial government in the 1920s) reinstated by a 2003 court judgement, influenced by the country’s land reform programme, yet this restitution did not include ownership of diamond mining claims which remained in the hands of big mining capital, supported by the state.