A rumour on social media brought dozens of fortune seekers to a field on the outskirts of mining town Springs
I
n a township 30 miles east of Johannesburg, a mechanical digger filled in holes in the dark brown earth, bringing to an end a brief but intense gold rush that saw dozens of fortune seekers descend on what was once a cattle field.
Less than two weeks ago, a rumour spread like wildfire on social media: someone had found gold while digging a hole for a fence post in a field on the edge of Gugulethu, an informal settlement of dirt roads and metal shacks on the outskirts of mining town Springs.
Many of Gugulethu’s jobless residents got to work digging. Prospectors also came from hundreds of miles away, from Limpopo province to the north and the city of Rustenberg to the north-west, said local councillor Dean Stone.
