“It’s given them the freedom not to stress about something,” said Tshepang Molefi, 38, surveying the activity in the field around her one evening as she took a break from digging. Now, it looks like a bare, cratered moon. Cattle once grazed on the digging field.People huddled to examine stones and celebrate their finds. While it was economic hardship that brought many here, the scene still felt like one big carnival, an escape from the hopelessness of a dour job market. “I’m selling,” others said quietly, offering stones for 100 rand ($7) to more than 600 rand, the prices revealing both their own doubts and their desperation. “Diamonds! Diamonds!” some people yelled. And there was no shortage of merchants looking to cash in on their newly extracted finds, which they insisted were precious stones. Music blasted from cars while some people cracked jokes and sipped beer. Vendors sold biscuits, sweet corn kernels and kota - a South African street food of white bread, fries and bologna. Many diamond seekers wrapped themselves in blankets and slept in the holes they dug. They also help explain the long-shot appeal of KwaHlathi and its purported diamonds.Ī satellite village of sorts sprouted here. Those statistics translate into all manner of odd jobs - and risky ones, like venturing into abandoned mines, that have proved deadly. Among young people, the situation is even more dire: About three of every four South African youths are without a job. Unemployment in South Africa is at 32.6 percent, the highest level recorded since the government began producing quarterly labor force reports in 2008.
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