Dreaming of Lights by Jayne Bauling

Regile is a zama-zama working illegally in an abandoned mine near Barberton. Being eighteen, Regile has moved up the ranks and is now paid a salary to keep the other child workers in line. Towards the end of a three-month stint underground, a fourteen-year-old boy from Mozambique, Taiba, starts asking questions about their rescue. Taiba constantly reaffirms his 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. Regile knows that such hope is dangerous.