Illegal miners live in fear after 14 killings
‘IT’S a war, they want the gold and we want the gold – they will kill if we stand in their way.”
These were the words of Robert*, an illegal miner from Malawi who fears for his life after 14 of his fellow zama zama’s were shot and killed at the weekend in Benoni.
Robert claimed that the turf war between illegal miners from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique had become a massacre, leading to two separate mass killings – one on Saturday night and the second on Sunday night.
“Zimbabweans, Malawians and Mozambicans were digging and they came up through the hole during the early evening with their gold rocks. The Basotho were waiting for them. They were armed and ready to shoot.
“When they came out the hole, the Basotho shot them, stole their gold and dumped their bodies by the railways,” Robert said.
“The same thing happened on Sunday night.”
The bodies were dumped in two separate locations in Benoni, the first six next to the railway lines near Snake Road and the other eight in the brush by Unity Street in New Modder.
They were later discovered by pedestrians and found to have gunshot and stab wounds to the upper body.
“I can guarantee you, none of those bodies are Basothos.
“They’re all Zimbabwean, Mozambican or Malawian – some don’t even have family here so they’ll never be identified,” said Robert.
A long way down a dirt road, far from the busy New Modder Street, the atmosphere in the mining area was tense.
The illegal miners’ fear was visible with some hiding close to their holes and in the long grass while others left their work areas out of fear.
“When we hear that the Sothos are coming from their side, we run away,” said another zama zama, Gift*.
“If we don’t get away in time from them, there is no hope – they will shoot us on the spot and take what we have.
“They will not let us go and they also have stronger weapons.”
The Zimbabwean father of two said that every day he went to search for gold, he wondered if he would return to his family.
Gift added that he was more afraid of the Basotho than of being killed in a mine collapse or from suffocation.
Some residents in the area, including some shopkeepers who worked nearby, said they tried to stay out of the politics between the different factions of zama zamas.
Thapelo Mnguni, who has a spaza shop, said there were times when he heard gunshots in the distance.
“That’s when you know almost immediately that someone has been killed. You know the police will find bodies in a day or two.”
Gauteng Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said preliminary findings showed the men had all been killed in the same way.
He said the police were still investigating the matter and no one had come forward to identify any of the bodies.
* Not their real names
When you hear shots, you know immediately someone has been killed.