On Thursday, members of the Gauteng SAPS, JMPD and immigration officials pounced on the notorious Zamimpilo informal settlement next to Riverlea, West of Johannesburg. The informal settlement recently made news after a recent shooting between alleged illegal Zama zamas resulted in the death of seven illegal miners.
While on a stop and search operation on Thursday morning, the police arrested more than 20 people who were not able to produce their travel documents when approached by the police and immigration officers. Besides this, the operation also uncovered a slew of Illegal mining equipment, unlicensed firearms, drugs and closed down illicit shebeens in the area.
Speaking via his official Twitter account, MMC for Public Safety David Tembe said the joint operation was aimed at rooting out illegal immigrants, crime and other elements in the area.
"Teams just descended in the informal settlement of Zamimpilo. Operation entails checking documentation, illegal connections, drugs, weapons and other criminal elements. No excuse for lawlessness," he said.
On Wednesday, the same operation in Matholeville in Roodepoort uncovered firearms and ammunition, resulting in the arrest of 11 illegal miners.
"In a continued effort to both disrupt and eradicate illegal mining activities in the Johannesburg District policing precinct, police have yet again arrested 11 illegal miners and recovered a firearm and ammunition in Mathole's Ville, Roodepoort, yesterday morning. All 11 suspects will also be processed by Immigration from Department of Home Affairs as primary investigation suggests that the suspects are undocumented foreign nationals," Police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Sello said in a statement.
Sello added that police further recovered equipment used for illegal mining operations, which included 23 Phendukas, 164 steel balls, stamper, garden spades, buckets, phenduka stands, phenduka sticks, electric motors, generators, stamper pots, gas cylinders, cutting torches and wheelbarrows, amongst others.
Services to the informal settlement are generally poor, with little to no sanitation, bad roads, sewage and other social ills confronting the more than 2 000 households in the area badly affected by crime.