WHILE illegal mining remains a big problem in various provinces in the country, the governing party seems to think they have everything in place to deal with it.
Briefing the media at the Birchwood Hotel on Monday, 16 October, the African National Congress' National Executive member, Police Minister Bheki Cele shared their interventions to tackle illegal mining in South Africa.
Cele said they were dealing not only with zama zamas but also the takeover of mines, especially in the North West.
He pointed out that there are five provinces where illegal mining was prevalent, and they were working on it with cops and Home Affairs.
“One of our successes is the arrest of seven Nigerian nationals who were dealing drugs and targeting police. The police assisted by the intelligence are hard at work. We have put structures in place that are excellently handling such cases,” he said.
ALSO READ: JUST IN: Mkhwebane finds home in EFF
He further said the South African government together with the government of Lesotho were in advanced talks on how to effectively deal with illegal immigration that was negatively affecting the country.
Cele said: “The first special team dedicated to fighting zama zamas was created in 2018 in Welkom. As a result, this type of crime has significantly decreased in that area.
“The four source of illegal firearms are those that cross the borders, those that come from security companies illegally, those that come from the rotten potatoes in the security cluster, and those that come from individual South Africans.”
The minister also highlighted that as much as police made arrests, the court somehow found a way to release the alleged perpetrators.
“We successfully apprehended illegal immigrants in Diepsloot, however they were back in the streets because they were let go of by the courts. We need to fix that element, and also work on the environmental design of the area so that the police are able to enter and patrol saturated places,” he said.
