TimesLIVE has reported that debt bondage and forced labour are taking place at illegal mining operations in Ekurhuleni, the municipality in South Africa's Gauteng province. The report, published on Sunday, 20 September 2026, points to workers being held in these conditions at unlicensed mine sites in the area.
According to TimesLIVE, the practices include debt bondage — a situation in which a person is made to work to repay a debt, with the terms of that debt used to keep them in the arrangement. The report also identifies forced labour at the same illegal mines.
The account comes from TimesLIVE's reporting on the ground in Ekurhuleni. No further details from the article were available beyond the headline and summary, including the number of people affected, the specific sites involved, or whether any arrests or investigations have followed.
Illegal mining — commonly referred to in South Africa as zama zama activity — has long been documented in Gauteng, where abandoned and disused shafts are worked without licences. The TimesLIVE report adds labour exploitation allegations to the picture of the sector in Ekurhuleni.
What to watch next: whether South African authorities open an investigation into the Ekurhuleni sites and confirm the conditions described by TimesLIVE.