DURBAN (CU)_Hundreds of fortune seekers from across South Africa flocked to the KwaZulu-Natal town of Ladysmith, flouting Coronavirus restrictions as authorities fear this could be a super-spreader event. In fact some of these people have been digging since Saturday, in hopes of unearthing diamonds after a heard man dug up the first ‘glass stone’ in an open field.
Some believe the stone was a quartz crystal, and word spread like wildfire across the villages. Considering the high rates of unemployment and severe poverty prevalent in these villages, people claim that this would be a “life changer”.
Meanwhile, the mines department announced on Monday (14 June) that a team of mining and geological experts will be visiting the site to collect samples, in order to conduct an analysis and issue a formal technical report in due course. The provincial government has also requested all those gathered to leave the site so that a proper inspection could be conducted. However, long lines of cars were parked along the gravel road leading up to the open field, as the lack of analysis has not deter the fortune seeks from digging through the soil with shovels, forks and picks.
In the meantime, some people have begun selling their stones at a price ranging between 100 rand ($9.41) and 300 rand ($28). Nearly three decades following the end of the apartheid, the country’s economy has suffered severely, trapping millions of people in unemployment and poverty. The situation has been further aggravated by the pandemic, and these villagers hope the recent discovery would make a difference.
“I hadn’t seen or touched a diamond in my life,” Skhumbuzo Mbhele, an unemployed villager, said. “It’s my first time touching it here, I hope this will make a difference at home because we are really struggling, so I hope things will be better.”
