BBC discovers sexual abuse of children

This story contains details, including a video that some people may find disturbing.

The most shocking for Jonathan, who had endured six debilitating months, living and working underground in an abandoned South African gold mine, was the abuse that he witnessed to be broadcast to children.

Some are recruited for cheap work, but others are specifically brought in for sex, say campaigners.

Jonathan, now in his late 1920s, had migrated from a nearby country to South Africa about the promise to make money work easily in one of the dozens of non -used mines, closed by multinationals because they were no longer commercially viable.

We protect his complete identity while he is afraid of reprisals of the common criminal gangs who run the illegal mining industry for speaking with the media.

Details of what the young people went came to the fore after the death of dozens of illegal miners near the city of Stilfontein at the end of last year when the mine was blocked by the police.

With a calm and steady voice, Jonathan describes the heat, long hours and limited food and sleeping options that took a toll on his body.

But a lasting memory is what happened to the minor miners in the shaft where he worked.

“I used to see these children in the mine-teenagers, 15, 17-year-olds.

“Others sometimes benefited from it. It was a bit scary and I was not at ease.”

He said they were raped by adult miners who promised to give them part of the gold they found in exchange for sex.

“If that boy is desperately looking 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 a punishment if the teenagers have not completed a task for their team.

Jonathan says that the children in the mine where he worked were all strange and did not realize where they came.

Mining researcher and activist Makhotla Sefuli supports this.

He says that criminal gangs focus specifically on children to work in illegal mines in South Africa.

Many of them are abducted from neighboring countries and traded. They are tempted by unfounded promises to find them employment in the formal mining industry.

“Their passports are seized when they come to South Africa … It is well known that these young boys are being abused,” says Mr. Sefuli.

The BBC spoke with miners who worked in at least two other illegal mines who told us that they saw children abused in the shafts where they were working.

Tshepo, not his real name, says he saw older men forced those young boys to have sex with them underground.

“In some cases they did it for the money. Some are only recruited for that goal, because of the financial incentives that will come with the practice of perhaps exchange of sex underground.”

He adds that the abuse has deeply affected the children.

“They change their behavioral patterns and have trust problems. They don’t want you to get close to them, because they feel that they can no longer trust anyone.”

The illegal mining industry of South Africa reached global headlines last year after an impasse between police and miners in the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine, near the city of Stilfontein in the province of Noordwest.

The authorities had tried to curb illegal mining, the government told that the economy of South Africa cost $ 3.2 billion (£ 2.6 billion) in lost income.

They launched an operation called Vala Umgodi, or sealed the gap, in December 2023, who promised to take a heavy attitude on the gangs.

As part of the operation, the police limited the amount of food and the water that the Stilfontein went -as a minister said, “smokes” the illegal miners. Officials said the men refused to come out for fear of being arrested.

Soon images from the mine started to appear that dozens of merged men who begged to be saved, as well as rows of body bags. In the end, a court ordered the authorities to save the men.

Among the raised were many who said they were minors, but because some of them were migrants without documents confirming how old they were, the authorities performed medical tests to get an estimate.

As a result, the Department of Social Development (DSD) confirmed that 31 of the rescued Stilfontein mine workers turned out to be children. They were all Mozambicans nationals and 27 of them were repatriated in November.

Save the Children South Africa helped to translate some of the interviews between the minor miners and the rescue workers.

“They went through trauma, because some of them also saw that others were being sexually exploited,” Gugu Xaba of the charity tells the BBC.

“Only the feeling that they may not come out of that have mentally destroyed those children.

“The adult miners would start taking care of them, by pretending they like them.”

She says that the children were then made to perform sexual acts to the adults and that they were then raped, days after day.

“You notice that the adult will have three or four of them to which they do the same.”

Mrs. Xaba says that Mijnbendes recruit children because they are easier to manipulate and are cheaper.

“Children don’t understand when you say:” I pay you 20 rand ($ 1; £ 0.80) per day. ” The adults sometimes refuse to work, but children find no choice.

In addition to being financially exploited, she says there are gangs that specifically recruit children for sex.

Many illegal miners spend months underground and rarely go to the surface. Markets come underground to offer them everything they need.

“Most children are traded to be used as sex slaves. And you have a pimp who takes the money, and it means that this child is used every day as a commercial sex worker.”

The BBC asked the police and the DSD if someone would be charged because of the accusations of sexual abuse. They did not respond to our requests.

A source that worked on the affairs of the Stilfontein my workers said that many of the children did not want to testify.

In the meantime, the illegal mining industry continues to thrive.

And with an estimated 6000 vacant mines that may be available to explore, it is a company that will probably not end up quickly, so that thousands of vulnerable children remain in danger.