/file/attachments/orphans/IMG_2646_775965.jpg "Unemployed South Africans turn to pine cones for Christmas cash")
FORGED IN FIRE AND SMOKE: THE SECRET HARVEST DRIVING JOHANNESBURG’S DANGEROUS DIVIDE
This isn’t a peaceful ritual. It’s a SCANDAL hiding in plain sight.
While the city’s elite flee to the coast, one man is conducting a secret harvest in the silent parks of the wealthy northern suburbs. His weapon of choice? Pine cones. His photos prove it: bags of natural bounty, stripped from public land, used to fuel private braais. This is not a simple hobby. This is a SYMPTOM of a city cracking apart.
Look at the evidence: the stark image of cones “waiting to be harvested” in Parkmore on December 20, 2025. This is no innocent gathering. It’s the exploitation of a historical accident—non-native pine trees planted by MINING BARONS to fuel a gold rush. Now, their descendants fuel a different kind of fire. The smoke from these cones is so thick it alarms neighbours, a literal cloud of privilege billowing over suburban walls.
Why does this matter? Because in a city drowning in inequality, even NATURE’S FREE GIFTS are commodified. Businesses SELL these cones by the bag, while those with knowledge and means take them for free. The “peaceful zone” described is a fantasy of isolation, a deliberate turning away from the pressing crises of the city. The “eco-friendly” boast is a smokescreen for a deeper truth: Johannesburg’s green veil was always an industrialist’s lie, and its fruits are now harvested by a privileged few.
The forest was planted by industry for profit, and today, its ashes are used to clean a private grill.
Author: Kayitsi.com
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