Johannesburg – MMC for Public Safety in the City of Joburg Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, along with Gauteng police commissioner Elias Mawela, led a weekend-long multistakeholder team against illegal mining in Riverlea and surrounding areas.
One illegal miner was shot and wounded during a shootout with the Johannesburg Metro Police's specialised units at one of the mineshafts in Robertsville, west of Joburg, on Saturday.
Speaking during this operation, a fed-up Tshwaku said he would not be intimidated by the zama zamas, who were brazen enough to shoot at law enforcement agencies.
Tshwaku said he received a tip about a non-operational mine in Stormhill used by illegal miners. Following this tip-off, members of the JMPD specialised unit raided the shaft and were met with resistance by the zama zamas, who fired back at them, resulting in one illegal miner being shot dead.
Five rifles, one shotgun, one 9-mm gun, ammunition, explosives, and illegal mining equipment were recovered from the scene. These included phendukas, generators, and gas cylinders.
Gauteng police commissioner Elias Mawela told the media that the police have uncovered an operational ground for zama zamas.
"We have discovered what I can call the headquarters of the Zama Zamas. Believe me, if you visit this place, you can see that these people, when they send the videos around the country swearing at all of us, were capturing these videos from this channel where we are right now," Mawela said.
On Friday, police minister Bheki Cele returned to the area following week-long protests by members of the community in Riverlea.
Cele urged the Department of Minerals and Energy to fill the shafts with concrete in order to make it difficult for the illegal miners to operate.
He said there were over 61 holes that needed to be closed in order to curb the scourge of illegal mining in some of the abandoned mine shafts across the province.
Since the start of the crackdown, police have reported that more than 200 illegal miners have been arrested, with more arrests expected in the ongoing operation.
The Star