All 61 holes used by zama-zamas in the Riverlea area must be permanently closed, Police Minister Bheki Cele insisted, jokingly adding that any illegal miners who did not comply would be sealed in underground.
Speaking from the area this afternoon, Cele said he had given Riverlea residents an ultimatum: do what they want, or eradicate criminality in their area.
He announced that a total of 194 illegal miners had been arrested, the majority of them being illegal foreign nationals from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi.
However, he said, when police arrest the zama-zamas (illegal miners), some people in the community bring them warm meals and take care of them from police custody.
One woman shouted “abo tata bezingane zethu” (they are the fathers to our children), when Cele told them to choose if they wanted to harbour criminals and continue losing the fight against illegal miners, or eradicate crime for good.
Cele returned to Riverlea and Zamimpilo informal settlement where he hosted an imbizo to update the community on police response to the illicit activities that have some community members living in fear.
Over the weekend, about five bodies were discovered in the mining area after zama-zama rivals fought over territory.
Cele promised residents that on Monday, a team from the secretariat would be in Riverlea to find out why the community station in that area was not functioning, and why the locals were dissatisfied. He also promised that feedback would be given by Thursday, saying the police and the community should work together against criminality.
He said he was glad that the City manager and a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature had attended the imbizo.
“Every day, police ask for infrastructure to be fixed so that they can move around. I went to a place nearby called ‘the park’, it is just a jungle, there is no safety there. These zama-zamas go to Riverlea and commit illicit activities and pass through the jungle. City manager, we are asking for the municipality to go and clean the areas so that it is easy for all of us to see zama-zamas and respond.”
He said he was aware that the Department of Mineral Resources had closed two holes, but when he went there he noticed that they had been reopened.
“I noticed that the holes were closed by just sand, and that is temporary… they must be permanently sealed,” Cele said.
There are 61 holes identified in Riverlea as being used by illegal miners. Cele said the two holes shut down this morning were already reopened, suggesting that they should pour cement to close them permanently.
While talking about the holes, some community members were heard saying that there are zama-zama who are currently digging for minerals underground.
“You must work with the police in identifying the holes. I can hear that there are some zama-zamas who are underground, tell them we are not going to wait for them, we did not send them. We are going to seal all the holes and write ‘here lives a zama-zama’,” said Cele, leaving some attendees in stitches.
He urged authorities to use anything from concrete to steel in order to seal the holes.
He told the community to refrain from accusing police of only dealing with zama-zamas on the ground.
Cele said it was not only about arresting the zama-zamas on the ground, but a spotlight should also focus on the middleman who sells minerals to “top guns” (kingpins), who he said lived in Sandton and Dubai.
“The middlemen live with you in the communities while some of them live in other top areas,” said Cele.
He said that about four months ago, in Carletonville, police nabbed six middlemen. He said their houses looked ordinary from the outside, but once inside you found that every piece of furniture had been imported from Italy.
“What the six suspects did not do well, outside their houses they parked luxury cars such as Lamborghini and Mercedes-Benz. We arrested them, fortunately or unfortunately they are out on bail. Police have arrested 89 gold-shifters, so don’t tell us we don’t deal with kingpins,” he added.
He announced that tomorrow he and officials from Home Affairs, Defence, and Correctional Services would meet President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss the problem of illegal mining and miners.
“The president has given the instruction to deal with zama-zamas in the whole province and the country. The meeting as ministers and the president, we are going to put plans (in place) so that this is dealt with holistically, from Krugersdorp to Benoni, Ekurhuleni. We have to find a way of dealing with illegal mining once and for all,” said Cele.