‘Diamond Rush’: Video Shows People Illegally Mining Diamonds in KZN
- The office of the KZN Premier has reported a 'diamond rush' near a rural Ladysmith community with many gathering in the hopes of collecting the precious stones
- Authorities have announced the dispatching of police to the area in an attempt to control the excitement
-The news of police involvement has definitely triggered social media users with many arguing that any diamonds found should be the property of the struggling community
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The KZN Premier has called for order amid reports of a diamond rush in KwaHlathi outside Ladysmith.
Source: Twitter
Discovery of the diamonds
According to an official statement released by the KZN Provincial Government, throngs of people have gathered to mine what they believe are diamonds. This activity follows the discovery by some of what they believe to be the precious stones.
In the short clip shared online, a crowd of at least 100 people stand gathered in an empty field. Armed with small carving tools and buckets, the men and woman enthusiastically search the land for any of the rumoured treasures.
"As soon as it was notified of this, the provincial government tasked the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs to refer the matter to the national Department of Minerals and Energy as the relevant department which deals with such," authorities added.
They've also shared that local SAPS officials have been notified of the situation and have been tasked with bringing order to the excited community.
Social media reactions
It seems the shared sentiment amongst social media users is that government leave the struggling community alone. Many agree that if discovered, the precious stones belong to the local community and mining of the land should therefore not be privatised.
Check out some of the comments below:
@Im_Pacho said:
"God gifted black people and you going to take it away from them just like everything you took."
@tiisetso_Africa said:
"What happened to the freedom charter? When will the mineral wealth be transferred to the ownership of the people???"
@Tsogang3 said:
"WHAT MAKES IT ILLEGAL?"
@SbuX85394313 said:
"Who told you that you own the land wena just leave the community alone the land belong to them same as you."
@SbuX85394313 said:
"You have the guts to release the statements telling the people who are owners of the land that they're doing illegal mining my questions is are you God? Did you create this land wena? Or you're a child of Lucifer, you feel okay when you see blacks suffering and starving."
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In some other news about groups participating in crime, Briefly News previously reported that one thing you never expect to see is police officers getting robbed by brazen criminals in broad daylight while surrounded by a number of witnesses. Well, exactly this happened right here in South Africa.
Daylight robbery
In a clip shared on Twitter by @ndi_shony, police officers can be seen getting approached by armed men who then proceed to demand that the cops hand over their firearms, which they end up doing.
Shook locals
"This country is a movie #DiepCityMzansi," Shonny captioned the clip.
Other locals had this to say:
@mphomokola said:
"Why Mageza wa Avanza Asathula mesono e?"
@kaMalangane said:
"At least they were not killed."
@Millice98907395 said:
"This is a bloody joke."
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Source: Briefly News
