BBC reveals the sexual assault on the child

This story has details, including a video clip, some people may find sad.

The most shocking thing for Jonathan, which carries six months of exhausting livelihood and underground work in the abandoned South Africa Golden, was the abuse he witnessed with children.

Activists say some of them have been recruited for cheap work, but others are specially brought to sex.

Jonathan, now in his late twenties, has immigrated to South Africa from a nearby country with promises to make easy money in one of dozens of deserted mines, closed by multinational companies because they are no longer commercially viable.

We protect his full identity because he fears revenge on evil criminal gangs that run the illegal mining industry to speak to the media.

Details of what the youth would have happened after dozens of illegal mines near the town of Stilfontein in late last year when the police came out by the mine.

In a calm and steady voice, Jonathan describes the heat, long hours, and the limited food options and sleep that affected his body.

But the permanent memory is what happened to the mines workers under the legal age in the column in which he was working.

“I used to see these children in the mine-teenagers in reality, 15, 17 years old.

“Others used to benefit from them sometimes. It was a little frightening, and I was not comfortable with it.”

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

“If this child is desperate for money, he will risk.”

Jonathan describes how children will deal with teams of mines for protection, but “this team will have conditions.”

Sex was also used as punishment if teenagers fail to complete their team.

Jonathan says that the children in the mine where they were working were all foreigners and did not realize what they were getting.

Mining researcher and activist Makhotla Sefuli supports this.

He says criminal gangs specifically target children to work in illegal mines throughout South Africa.

Many of them are kidnapped from neighboring countries and are trafficking. They are lured with unfounded promises to be found in the official mining industry.

“Their passports are confiscated when they arrive in South Africa … it is knowledge that these young children are hurt,” says Mr. Sefuli.

The British Broadcasting Corporation spoke to miners who worked in other illegal mines, at least we told us that they saw children being hurt in the columns they worked in.

Chibu, not his real name, says he saw elderly men forcing young children to have sex with them underground.

“In some cases, they did this for money. Some of them are only recruited for this purpose, due to the financial incentives that will come with the possibility of trading underground sex.”

He adds that ill -treatment strongly affected children.

“They change their patterns of behavior and have confidence problems. They do not want you to approach them, because they feel that they can no longer trust anyone.”

The illegal mining industry in South Africa topped the headlines of the international newspapers last year after a confrontation between the police and miners at the Povlevonin Golden Umayrs, near the town of Stelvontein in the northwestern province.

The authorities were trying to curb the illegal mining, which the government said the cost of the economy in South Africa is 3.2 billion dollars (2.6 billion pounds) of missing revenues last year.

They launched a operation called Vala Umgodi, or sealed the hole, in December 2023, and promised to take a difficult position on the gangs.

As part of the operation, the police restricted the amount of food and water that fell Stilfontein, as one of the minister said, “smokes” illegal miners. The officials said men refused to go out for fear of arresting them.

Soon shots began to appear from inside the mine showing dozens of comic men who plead to save them, as well as rows of body bags. In the end, the court ordered the authorities to save the men.

Among those who grew up many of those who said they were below the legal age, but since a number of them were immigrants without documents confirming how old they were, the authorities conducted medical tests for an estimate.

Through this, the Ministry of Social Development (DSD) confirmed that 31 stilfontein miners who were rescued to be children were found. They were all Mozambican citizens and in November, 27 of them were returned.

Saving children in South Africa helped translate some interviews between mines below legal age and rescue workers.

“They were shocked, because some also saw that others are sexually exploited,” said the CEO of the BBC Charitable Society.

“Just a feeling that they may not come out from there, these children are mentally destroyed.

“Adult miners will start preparing them, by behaving like them.”

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

“You find that the adult will have three or four of them doing the same.”

Mrs. XABA says that mining gangs recruit children because they are easier to manipulate and cheaper.

Children do not understand when you say: “I will pay you 20 Rand ($ 1; 0.80 pounds) daily. “Adults sometimes refuse to work, but children find themselves without an option.

Besides financial exploitation, she says that there are children’s recruitment gangs specifically for sex.

Many illegal miners spend the most famous underground, and rarely ascend to the surface. The markets rise under the ground to provide them with anything they need.

“Most children are smuggled to use it as sexy slaves. You have pimps that take money, and this means every day that this child is used as a commercial sexual factor.”

The British Police Broadcasting Corporation and DSD asked whether anyone will be charged with the allegations of sexual assault. They did not respond to our requests.

A source working on the cases of mines at Stilfontein said that many children do not want to testify.

At the same time, the illegal mining industry continues to prosper.

And with an estimated 6000 vacant mines that are likely to be available for exploration, it is unlikely that work will end any time soon, leaving thousands of children at risk.