Contemporary Fiction
The Gold Diggers
ISBN:
9781770105942
Publisher:
Pan Macmillan, South Africa
Language:
English
Book Format:
Paperback, Ebook, Audio Book
Pages:
Date Published:
May 1, 2025
It’s 2008 and the height of Zimbabwe’s economic demise. A group of passengers is huddled in a Toyota Quantum about to embark on a treacherous expedition to the City of Gold. Amongst them is Gugulethu, who is hoping to be reconciled with her mother; Dumisani, an ambitious young man who believes he will strike it rich, Chamunorwa and Chenai, twins running from their troubled past; and Portia and Nkosi, a mother and son desperate to be reunited with a husband and father they see once a year. They have paid a high price for the dangerous passage to what they believe is a better life; an escape from the vicious vagaries of their present life in Bulawayo. In their minds, the streets of Johannesburg are paved with gold but they will have to dig deep to get close to any gold, dirtying themselves in the process. Told with brave honesty and bold description, the stories of the individual immigrants are simultaneously heart-breaking and heart-warming.
Reviews
Puleng Hopper Reviews The Gold Diggers by Sue Nyathi
The narration follows the tumultuous journey, by river and road, of a group of ordinary, hopeful Zimbabwean nationals, a combi full, who, due to political and economic turmoil are forced to illegally cross the border into neighbouring South Africa to seek better living conditions.
Review: The GoldDiggers by Sue Nyathi
When they board the “gleaming white Toyota Quantum with black-tinted windows pulled into a vacant parking space opposite Max’s Garage” in Bulawayo, the characters in Sue Nyathi’s second novel, The GoldDiggers (unusual spelling intended), know that they are embarking on a precarious trip.
Of The Gold Diggers: A book Review
Titled “Gold Diggers”, one would mistake the title and its cover for a novel about women and men who dig for the finer things in life. However, once you open the book you learn that it is about several Zimbabweans from different walks of life who embark on a journey to the “City of Gold”.
Johannesburg: Portrait with blood
It’s a tale of trade in young girls, of drugs, of xenophobia and one which sees people being tossed away as though they are worthless. There’s a necklacing that takes the life of one of the characters, a dead baby stuffed with illegal drugs on a Malaysian flight that’s the burden for another to carry; the lure of fame fortune and glory in this work is painted oft with a carrot of poison, that reflects a dog-eat-dog world where nobody enjoys the empathy of the common man and homelessness and aloneness are the least of their worries.
The Gold Diggers – Sue Nyathi
In writing The Gold Diggers Sue Nyathi affords us a rare insight into the dark underbelly of Johannesburg that confronts hopeful – and mostly illegal – immigrants from Africa streaming towards, what they believe is, the City of Gold. It is certainly not a feel good story – but one that I firmly believe is a must-read for all South Africans.
Finding common ground in foreign land
Nyathi stated that most illegal immigrants are motivated by a desperation for survival. Furthermore, despite being eschewed to the margins of opportunity in South Africa, Nyathi states that that is not often an acceptable position due to the pressure on one to succeed once they have left their country.
The perils for Zimbabweans crossing the border into South Africa personified in Sue Nyathi’s new novel, The Gold Diggers
In this month’s Africa: Stories in the 55, Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi delves into the dangers of crossing into South Africa illegally in the hopes of finding work and a better life. The Gold Diggers explores the lives of six people who illegally cross the border in a combi, or van, and how their hopes and dreams– independently from each other– are thwarted as they try to start their lives in South Africa.
The Gold Diggers By Sue Nyathi
Sue Nyathi and The Gold DiggersListen
The Gold Diggers – Book Review
In this month’s Africa: Stories in the 55, Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi delves into the dangers of crossing into South Africa illegally in the hopes of finding work and a better life. The Gold Diggers explores the lives of six people who illegally cross the border in a combi, or van, and how their hopes and dreams– independently from each other– are thwarted as they try to start their lives in South Africa.
Book Review // The Gold Diggers
In this month’s Africa: Stories in the 55, Zimbabwean author Sue Nyathi delves into the dangers of crossing into South Africa illegally in the hopes of finding work and a better life. The Gold Diggers explores the lives of six people who illegally cross the border in a combi, or van, and how their hopes and dreams– independently from each other– are thwarted as they try to start their lives in South Africa. Watch