This is what it looks like when unregulated, illegal mining meets governance failure - a fire in a coal mine that has been burning for weeks, leaving nearby communities choking in the fumes. Perhaps most worryingly, nobody knows the extent to which fires may be burning underground.

What do noxious fumes, underserved communities, criminal coal mining rackets, governance failures and one of the largest corporate thermal coal producers and exporters in South Africa have in common?

Usually not much, but just a few kilometres outside Emalahleni in Mpumalanga they come together in an acrid confluence said to sting the noses and eyes of children, with plumes of smoke visible for many kilometres.

Emalahleni, literally "The place of coal", is said to house the largest coal reserves in South Africa, with the greatest concentration of underground and open-cast mines in the country. For a number of complex reasons, some have chosen to benefit from this rich mineral endowment, outside of the prescripts of the law.

Now one of these mines, the Khwezela Colliery, which is owned by Thungela Resources, and is being mined illegally is on fire wth no real plan in place to extinguish it. According to Thungela's website, "The...