The Bombela consortium which is building the Gautrain rail network in South Africa has placed newspaper advertisements offering '2 million tonnes of rock, stone, soil and fill' excavated from its tunnels beneath Johannesburg. The material is free of charge – but people must collect it themselves.

In nearby Tshwane, traditional healers and conservation experts were called on to save indigenous plants and animals in the path of the new line. Healers blessed the area to placate the ancestors, who duly authorised the start of work on the eastern slope of Salvokop.

Topics