I want a house with double storeys, this is going to change our life," Manyathi told AFP, fingering a cluster of stones in his pocket. Johannesburg resident Thulani Manyathi, 36, travelled to KwaHlathi from the impoverished township of Alexandra with his four young daughters. The rough stone yielded nine major diamonds used to adorn the British crown jewels, as well as almost 100 minor brilliants.Īn aerial view shows people digging on 15 June 2021 as they search for what they believe to be diamonds after the recent discovery of unidentified stones at KwaHlathi village near Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal. Rumour has it that the Cullinan, which weighed over 3,000 carats uncut, was lying only a few metres below ground and dug up with a pocketknife. "They are not tired, we are looking for money," Precious exclaimed.
The boy clutched a transparent crystal the size of a ping pong ball.
She had spent the night digging, with her teenage son and baby daughter.
DIAMOND RUSH FULL
But this could change everything," said Precious, 38, who did not wish to give her full name. South Africa is also the birthplace of the Kimberley Process, an international certification scheme to keep conflict diamonds off the market. The country, internationally renowned for its mineral wealth, still holds a record for the world's largest ever rough diamond discovery - the Cullinan - found in 1905 in the small mining town by the same name. The prospect of finding a diamond sent glimmering ripples of hope to one of the poorest regions of South Africa as the coronavirus pandemic worsened decades of extremely high unemployment levels. "I'm going to buy a car, a house, send my kids to private school," she told AFP. "They are real," beamed Magudulela, in her 40s and struggling to feed her three children. Many found more of the mysterious stones and set them aside in small dirt-encrusted piles. News of the finding spread fast, triggering a rush to the site despite messages of caution by the government warning the stones could be worthless.Īt dawn, men and women upturned clumps of soil with shovels and picks and frantically rummaged through the earth with their bare hands. Thousands have flocked to the outskirts of KwaHlathi village, more than 300 kilometres southeast of Johannesburg, after a cattle herder last week unearthed a handful of unidentified crystal-like stones. KWAHLATHI - Single mother Lihle Magudulela spat out a mouthful of dirt as she sucked on a stone dug up from a hillside in KwaZulu-Natal province, convinced she might have found a diamond.
0 kommentar(er)
