POLICE are on the heels of a suspected main ammunition dealer who is believed to be supplying the heavily armed zama zamas.
This is part of wide ranging investigations into illegal mine operations.
Police Minister Bheki Cele was briefing the National Council of Provinces on illegal mining activities.
This comes after the rape of eight women who were shooting a music video at West Village in Krugersdorp outside Joburg recently.
Cele told the house that police were tracing a man in Lesotho believed to be the ammunition supplier after the arrest of a woman who was transporting ammunition in the country with a baby on her back. The minister shot down criticism of officers failing to respond to complaints by residents around illegal mining activities, saying that even though police were way too shortstaffed, they have been successful in raiding zama zamas.
He pointed out to successful raids in the wake of the Krugersdorp incident, where more than 300 zamas zamas had been arrested.
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Cele said 14 of them have been positively identified as participants in the horror rape incident and DNA testing has been prioritised.
He said part of the investigation was to arrest the syndicate that is behind the zama zamas.
He offered no apology for a controversial statement he made regarding a 19-year-old-woman when he said she was lucky to have been raped by only one man.
“I said it can be called lucky that she was raped by one man,” he said.
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“Maybe next time we must be allowed to answer questions in our language so we can express ourselves better.”
The minister revealed that rape cases involving DNA evidence were being prioritised, and the department has reduced the backlog from 250 000 cases to 112 000.
He said the backlog should be cleared by the end of next month.
