In a rustic the place at the very least 150 women are raped each day, it ostensibly took the gang rape of eight ladies in Krugersdop, Gauteng, for police to reply to many years of complaints about the scourge of unlawful mining.
On Tuesday, Police Minister Bheki Cele led a multi-disciplinary group of SA Police Services’ Tactical Response Teams, Hawks, Crime Intelligence in addition to Okay-9 unit, joined by personal safety, in a blitz operation to take down unlawful mining syndicate of zama zamas in Randfontein.
First, it was the swift rounding up and arrest of the 80 alleged suspects, after eight dancers and crew had been accosted throughout a music video shoot in the mine dumps of West Village.
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Communities affected by the violence and crime that comes with unlawful mining operations have for many years endured this terror.
With the scourge spreading from Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Free State, authorities appeared powerless.
It stays to be seen if that is the sort of swift motion and present of power South Africans should count on from regulation enforcement in coping with the unlawful mining that has left a pile of our bodies over the previous years.
Inconsistent
University of the Free State anthropologist, Professor Theodore Petrus, stated there have been two angles from which to take a look at the police response sample.
He stated the first was the inconsistency wherein the authorities resolve how to reply to a felony exercise.
According to Petrus, it appeared there have been situations as demonstrated now the place the police are ready to reply comparatively rapidly, however provided that it was an incident that makes nationwide information headlines and the place there may be adequate public outcry.
“They demonstrated that they are able to respond very quickly. They are able to generate capacity to do what needs to be done, so the issue seems to be that of inconsistency – which they demonstrate that,” Petrus stated.
ALSO READ: Krugersdorp rape case postponed to Wednesday
The second angle, he stated, was additionally to take a look at it from the context of debates round foreigners in South Africa.
“We know that the debate round zama zamas being largely foreigners has been a problem for a while.
“So the query is why is it that when it is foreigners in alleged felony actions, the authorities are very fast to reply, however when it is South Africans concerned – then there appears to be a bit of a lag in responses.
“And also more so when it’s local politicians, the elite or highly connected individuals implicated in criminal activities, again there is a lag in terms of the response,” Petrus stated.
National police spokesperson, Colonel Athlenda Mathe, is but to reply to request for remark.
Heavily armed
A report by personal safety agency specialising in mining safety, Blue Hawk Tactical, has painted a gory image of communities below siege and overrun by unlawful miners armed to the enamel, whereas authorities seemed on helplessly.
According to the report compiled by the firm’s operation group, South Africa reportedly has over 16 000 unlawful miners working in the nation; from gold, to platinum, chrome, diamonds and even sand mining.
On the East Rand, there are frequent gang wars between the Basotho, Mozambican and Zimbabwean nationals.
The Basotho nationals function as safety element of the unlawful miners and they’re sometimes armed with automated and assault rifles, together with AK47’s, and a few even have grenades, rocket launchers and mortars.
Near Golden Drive for an instance, there are reportedly hundreds of zama zamas engaged on floor utilizing phenduka vegetation (a guide processing plant) to deal with stolen gold ore.
A drone video can simply spot phenduka vegetation working in Daveyton or Lindelani, in accordance to the Blue Hawk Tactical group.
“The space has seen a quantity of murders together with of unlawful mining gang members and even motorists who’ve damaged down and had been murdered in 2022 and 2019.
“The area is an illegal mining hotspot so if you come into their territory you run the risk of being killed,” stated one of the group members who requested not to be named.
According to the report, unlawful mining prices SA’s financial system round R21-billion yearly and is usually linked to human smuggling and trafficking, unlawful weapons and explosives, tax evasion, cash laundering, corruption and gang-related actions.
siphom@citizen.co.za
