Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature 2011 – Gold Award A gripping youth novel about zama-zamas; children working illegally in abandoned mines, who stay underground for as long as three months at a time. Despite their desperate existence, they still cling to hope. Regile is a zama-zama in an abandoned mine near Barberton. He has moved up the ranks and is now paid a salary to keep the other child workers in line. A fourteen-year-old boy from Mozambique, Taiba, starts asking questions about their rescue. Taiba constantly reaffirms Regile’s belief that they will be saved: by the police, by the private security firms that guard the mines, or maybe even by the mythical Spike Maphosa.
Dreaming of Light (Prescribed High School Reading, Softcover, 144 pg) Jayne Bauling
