Durban – Sting operations to root out illegal mining in Gauteng have netted 15 more suspected zama zamas.
On Monday, Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said the group were arrested in an operation in Roodepoort.
“Police arrested 15 suspected illegal miners and recovered gold-bearing dust and tools suspected to be used for illegal mining. As police were conducting the operation, they spotted a suspicious BMW in Sol Plaaitjie, Roodepoort. Upon stopping and searching the BMW, police found what is suspected to be gold-bearing dust inside the vehicle. The two occupants, who are undocumented, were arrested,” he said.
Masondo said police arrested 13 undocumented persons after they were found with tools and materials suspected to be used for illegal mining.
Meanwhile, 11 men were nabbed on Friday for illegal mining. Police said the men, who ranged in age from 19 to 37, were arrested and the team seized 11 generators, seven jackhammers, two shovels, two picks and 38 wheelbarrows. At least 48 more illegal miners were arrested in sting operations carried out in the Sekhukhune and Waterberg districts.
Since the start of the month, more than 100 people have been arrested for illegal mining in hotspot areas across the country. Of those, seven men have been linked to a rape incident in Krugersdorp.
Last week, the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy and the Portfolio Committee on Police conducted a three-day joint oversight visit to Gauteng. It was established that legal mining activity was no longer active and these sites had been taken over by illegal miners. The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy, Sahlulele Luzipo, reiterated the need for the department to effectively implement the principle of ‘use it or lose it’, over and above the programme of closing disused and ownerless mines.
“Under no circumstances should the mines be left dormant half-way because they end up as breeding ground for illegal mining activities. There needs to be a way in which the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act is harmonised with the Companies Act to deal effectively with issues of mining rights and company liquidation,” he said.
IOL