Dying For Gold

Dying for Gold looks at who is behind South Africa’s yellow wealth: Men whose lungs and lives are destroyed by digging for gold; women whose husbands return to poverty-stricken rural areas disabled by silicosis and tuberculosis; sons who follow in their fathers’ footsteps because there is no other work.  Co-Directors Richard Pakleppa and Catherine Meyburgh skillfully use interviews with the miners and their families to humanise the history of gold mining, from the migrant labour system with its duplicitous recruitment campaigns, to the prison-like conditions of the hostels, to the back-breaking work that has been so pivotal to South Africa’s economy.