The residents of West Village in Krugersdorp say they are living in a “war zone” because of the Zama Zamas who are terrorising their community fighting for territory for the lucrative illegal mining business in the area.
The villagers complain that the police are turning a blind eye to rampant crime in the area. They allege that these illegal miners are said to be illegal immigrants from Lesotho and Zimbabwe who are better armed – some with AK 47s and automatic rifles – than SAPS officers.
“What is problematic in this area, is that these gangs are known, where they live and where they are (illegally) mining. So, why are the police not arresting them?” asked a villager, who wished to remain anonymous.
“Even if we open cases, nothing gets done. Most of these gangs are from Lesotho. You see those people over there (pointing towards the nearby mountain where a group of men were standing wearing the traditional Basotho blankets), underneath those blankets there are carrying heavy weapons. I tell you my brother, even the police are no match for those guns.
“Only the army can take them out,” said a villager who invited Sunday Independent to report on this scourge of crime in the area.
The villager also said that over the years, there have been sporadic gun battles between rival gangs fighting for control of the disused mines in the area, but since the beginning of this year, the area has almost turned into a war zone, as the gangs now terrorise innocent people and rob them of their valuables such as cellphones.
He said he has decided to take his wife and kids to his in-laws in Tembisa for safety as they were living in fear for their lives.
A manager at a nearby construction site who also wanted to remain anonymous said, last month, one of their security officers was shot and killed when the gangs robbed him of his firearm. “The case was reported to the police, but till today, we have not heard anything.”
One Zama Zama, Fox Gora from Zimbabwe, said last year he made R200000 after spending six months underground. He went back to his country in December and bought himself a plot of land and property, but when he came back in January, he found guns blazing in the illegal mining business and now he was starving as he can no longer make a living.
All efforts to get comment from the Krugersdorp police station as well as from the provincial police were unsuccessful for the past two weeks.
Another man who was hiding in the nearby bushes and did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals said he was hiring out his “mining equipment” to the Zama Zamas. He said he was making an average of R2000 per week.
Asked why he was hiding in the bushes he said he was on the lookout for the police and other rival gangs. He said in case the police came, he gives them “a cold drink” (slang for bribe) as little as R50.
In March, local publication Krugersdorp News reported that 30 people were arrested, one for being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, and another for trading and dealing in liquor without a licence during a joint operation by the police, SANDF and Mogale City Traffic on illegal miners in West Village.
However, the villagers are adamant that, since then, nothing has changed.
Another resident, Marine Grove, said the area was now too dangerous to live in. “You know you can no longer go to the C-Section. It is very dangerous. We just go to the shops. We are afraid of going too far from our houses,” said Grove whose son was recently robbed and her neighbour was almost raped by these marauding gangs.
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The Sunday Independent