Gun law rules where gold drives men mad
BULLETS flew in recent weeks as rival gangs of illegal miners, known as Zama Zamas, faced off at a mine shaft near Secunda, Mpumalanga.
The open warfare illustrated the epic proportions of illegal mining, which has led to many deaths, mines being looted and nearby communities being traumatised.
The authorities are seemingly powerless to stop it.
A Business Times team was at the scene in Secunda when a group of men, clad in traditional Basotho blankets, reached a makeshift entrance to the Winkelhaak gold mine a few hundred metres from the Embalenhle township at sunset on March 24.
There, men from the Kubo Ya Litlama faction came face to face with members of a rival gang, the Kubo Ya Trein.
In an exchange of bullets that lasted two hours, two Zama Zamas were slain and others wounded.
Members of the two gangs said after the gun battle that both groups were from Lesotho and were now mired in a noholds-barred fight for the scraps of gold left in the nearby shafts.
George Mmako, a member of the Kubo Ya Trein gang, said his group had been fighting Kubo Ya Litlama for months around the mine shafts.
“When it is time to go back home during the festive season and a member of Kubo Ya Litlama happens to be in same taxi he has to maintain complete silence until we get to Lesotho. Otherwise, the only way to reach home is in a coffin,” he said.
Community members who gathered in the aftermath of the gun battle said this sort of bloodshed was common because the area had become a war zone since Zama Zamas moved in.
“Even during the day, if you walk around the mining complex, you see armed people roaming the streets foraging for scrap metal or gold,” said one young man who is living at the Mpumalanga Guest House in the area.
Security guards at the guest house pointed to the many bullet holes in the wall.
“They fear no one,” said a guard. “People here in the guest house, including us, are scared, and expect anything at any time of the night.”
The guard described how the previous week illegal miners arrived at the guest house property and began digging trenches and moving soil with sacks and buckets, apparently looking for deposits of precious minerals close to the surface.
“We are not armed guards. There is nothing we can do because these people are heavily armed,” he said.
“All we can do is call the police. On Saturday, we called the police [and] they came here, but said they can’t come inside the guest house because the situation is too risky,” the guard said.
However, Mpumalanga Guest House owner Johan Pretorius said his guests were safe.
“We have taken precautions. When we call the police, they come on time. What is happening outside, I don’t know,” Pretorius said.
But during the gun battle, the Business Times team did not see a single policeman.
Asked whether he had heard that his guest house was being targeted because mineral deposits were believed to be close to the surface, Pretorius said: “I am not a geologist. I don’t know.”
One security guard told of how Zama Zamas approached him a few days ago.
“They told me that if I give them a 5-litre bucket full of any soil from anywhere on the guest house premises they will pay me R4 000. I was left wondering what is in it for them. So much for just a bucket of soil?”
Winkelhaak mine is owned by Pan African Resources, which is still working it. It was previ- BATTLEFIELD: A derelict mine shaft in Secunda, Mpumalanga, typical of those invaded by illegal miners. Rival gangs of Zama Zamas wage war on each other and terrorise the local community OFF TO WAR: Members of the Kubo Ya Litlama gang arrive at Secunda’s Winkelhaak mine. Minutes later, they and Kubo Ya Trein gang members opened fire on each other ously owned by Harmony Gold.
Pan African Resources has employed Protea Security Services to secure the mine, but the guards said they were afraid of Zama Zamas.
“They have powerful illegal weapons that cannot be traced,” said a guard.
“When we shoot at them, we will be subjected to a lengthy legal process to determine if our safety was really in jeopardy. They [illegal miners] have a licence to kill, it appears,” said one guard.
The illegal miners, who stay underground for weeks at a time, are apparently well versed both in mining and the local geology.
Said one resident: “They know how to prospect for the ore, and they demonstrate knowledge of how to reach the ore. They can process it manually, and sell it to the highest bidder.”
The sharp rise in the number of illegal miners has frightened local residents. Buildings abandoned by the mining company are now occupied by Zama Zamas. Local farmers are said to be letting rooms to them.
Said one former Harmony Gold employee: “All the structures that you see, such as the hostel and the former Harmony employee hospital, are now home to illegal miners.
The Enkomeni squatter camp, in which some members of the Kubo Ya Trein group live, has been hit particularly hard.
Madoda Ndlovu, a member of Enkomeni’s community policing forum, said: “Even children start to behave strangely when darkness approaches. They seem to have got used to the fact that darkness means violence, gunshots and weeping.”
But Ndlovu is letting shacks to Kubo Ya Trein members for R150 a month. He and others are thinking about fleeing the area and its violence.
“The police are failing to control the situation, and the slowness with which they respond to our calls for help is pathetic,” said Ndlovu.
Police Minister Nathi Nhleko had visited the area, but nothing changed, he said.
A group of squatter camp women, who did not want to be named, described the climate of fear.
“We sleep well at night only when Zama Zamas find gold. When they don’t, they come here to rob and even rape us. The police are useless — we call them but they don’t come.”