Residents of KwaMachi, a tiny village in Harding in the far south of KwaZulu-Natal, believe that the "gold" that has been discovered in their village will change their lives for the better. When News24 visited the site on Wednesday, where the "gold" was discovered, hundreds of men and women, old and young, including school children from the village and surrounding villages, were busy digging for the precious metal with axes, pickaxes, shovels and chisels. Umuziwabantu Mayor Dixie Nciki told News24 on Tuesday that about 5 000 people had gathered at the site on Monday night. She said the gold frenzy began over the weekend when news of the discovery in KwaMachi spread to other areas in the province. She said the site where the "gold" was discovered last Wednesday had been identified to be dug up for quarry stones that would be used to pave the gravel roads in the area. She said it had not been proven that the material on sale at the site was real gold, but samples of the stones had been taken to Pretoria for testing, as there were no available labs in the province where the tests could be conducted.

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