This story contains details, including a video, that some people may find distressing.
The most shocking thing for Jonathan, who had endured six gruelling months living and working underground in an abandoned South African gold mine, was the abuse he witnessed being meted out to children.
Some are recruited for cheap labour, but others are brought in specifically for sex, campaigners say.
Jonathan, now in his late 20s, had migrated to South Africa from a nearby country on the promise of making easy money working in one of its dozens of disused mines, closed by multinationals because they were no longer commercially viable.
We are protecting his full identity as he fears reprisals from the vicious criminal gangs that run the illegal mining industry for speaking to the media.
Details of what the young people were going though emerged after the death of dozens of illegal miners near the town of Stilfontein late last year when the mine was blockaded by police.
In a calm and steady voice, Jonathan describes the heat, long hours and limited food and sleeping options which took a toll on his body.
But an enduring memory is what happened to the underage miners in the shaft where he worked.
Advertisement
“I used to see these kids in the mine – teenagers actually, 15, 17-year-olds.
“Others used to take advantage of them sometimes. It was a little bit scary, and I wasn’t comfortable with it.”
He said they were raped by adult miners who promised to give them some of the gold they found in exchange for sex.
“If that kid is desperate for money, he will take the risk.”
Jonathan describes how the children would approach teams of miners for protection but “that team would have conditions”.
Sex was also used as punishment if the teenagers failed to complete a task for their team.
Jonathan says the children in the mine where he worked were all foreign and did not realise what they were getting themselves into.
Mining researcher and activist Makhotla Sefuli backs this up.
He says criminal gangs specifically target children to work in illegal mines across South Africa.
Many of them are abducted from neighbouring countries and trafficked. They are enticed by baseless promises of finding them employment in the formal mining industry.
“Their passports are confiscated when they get to South Africa… It is common knowledge that these young boys are being abused,” Mr Sefuli says.
The BBC has spoken to miners who worked in at least two other illegal mines who told us they saw children being abused in the shafts where they were working.
Tshepo, not his real name, says he saw older men forcing young boys to have sex with them underground.
“In some instances, they did it for the money. Some are recruited solely for that purpose, because of the financial incentives that will come with the practice of maybe trading sex underground.”
He adds that the abuse deeply affected the children.
“They change their behaviour patterns and have trust issues. They don’t want you to get close to them, because they feel that they can no longer trust anyone.”
South Africa’s illegal mining industry made global headlines last year following a standoff between police and miners at the Buffelsfontein gold mine, near the town of Stilfontein in the North West Province.
Source:bbcnews
