What happened at Kleinzee stayed at Kleinzee?
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What happened at Kleinzee stayed at Kleinzee?
Diamond mining on the west coast of South Africa has left adverse impacts in its wake.
By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine
The environmental impact of diamond mining at Kleinzee and Alexander Bay on the West Coast of South Africa has been severe.
In the aftermath of decades of profitable mining operations on the West Coast which resulted in the development of thriving towns like Kleinzee and Alexander Bay, the situation on the ground in this part of Namaqualand today is dire.
Despite great closure and rehabilitation plans being in place when the large diamond mining companies left, what happened on the ground is maybe not the outcome that was discussed and planned in the documents and in the boardrooms.
Driving to Kleinzee and Alexander Bay
After speaking with several local people in Springbok and surrounding towns in Namaqualand, we decided on day 14 of the 2025 WhyAfrica Road Trip to take a drive on the dirt road from Port Nolloth to Kleinzee to get a sense of how things look there after diamond miner De Beers left the area in 2012.
We knew that several fatal accidents involving illegal miners that invaded the area shortly after De Beers handed over the town to the local municipality, made headlines until as recently as 2023. The last accident killed at least 13 illegal miners in August 2023.
However, we wanted to decide for ourselves to find out what is happening on the ground. For one, Kleinzee’s roads are in bad shape and that there are environmental and socio-economic issues in town is obvious.
One miner in town (not sure if he was a legal miner) says that the situation in Kleinzee is better for some after De Beers left but a lot worse for most local inhabitants.
On the R355 to Kleinzee
Leaving Kleinzee, the R355 dirt road to Springbok presents a series of social and environmental eyesores: old tailing heaps, rock dumps, and an entire illegal human settlement near De Beers’ old Bontekoe mine.
In Springbok we spoke to a former police investigator who told us that several clean-up operations have been launched at the Bontekoe community over the years. At some point Bontekoe housed a crèche, bottle store, brothel and diamond trading office, ran by migrant zama-zamas. Our drive-by confirms that illegal activities are still not under control.
Driving towards Springbok we crossed the spectacular Spektakel mountain pass which Cape Governor Simon van der Stel took on with ox wagons prospecting for copper mined by the Nama people as far back as the late 1600’s. Just before the pass we encountered another pretty unrehabilitated historic copper tailings dam which I suspect belonged at some stage to a company called Spektakel Copper.
Before Kleinzee we visited Alexanderbaai where similar social and environmental issues have taken root.
Read more in WhyAfrica’s reports and research articles that will be available to purchase in WhyAfrica’s online shop.
WhyAfrica specialises in the sustainable use and responsible development of Africa’s natural resources.
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What happened at Kleinzee stayed at Kleinzee?