Task team eyes Zama Zamas

Warring groups apparently used shotguns and rifles in the shoot-out

JOHANNESBURG: The police have formed a task team in a bid to clamp down on the illegal mining often accompanied by deadly shooting over territorial control of Gauteng’s abandoned gold mines.

By last Thursday, the death toll arising from the warfare between the rival illegal miners, popularly known as the Zama Zamas, stood at 19.

A mob of Zama Zamas, estimated at about 500, had last week opened fire on a rival group of about 200 miners at Grootvlei Mine in Springs, Ekurhuleni, in what appeared to have been the latest battle for control of the abandoned mine.

The warring groups appar- ently used shotguns and rifles in the shootout.

And in more gang warfare over mining rights in Carltonville, the Zama Zamas are said to have exchanged gunfire with guards patrolling the Blyvooruitzicht mine.

This was as the guards tried to chase the illegal miners away from the mines.

Yesterday, Gauteng police spokesperson LieutenantColonel Lungelo Dlamini said the task team would include various roleplayers, including those in the mining industry.

Communities that live in the vicinity of these mines are often at risk as the Zama Zamas often open fire randomly.

Dlamini said the police were almost always on high alert. “Police are concerned about this situation and operations to arrest the gangs and prevent further killings are in progress,” he said.

Dlamini said no arrests had been made in connection with last week’s deadly shootings.

He said, however, that the police were following up on some leads.

At a

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briefing Gauteng provincial police commissioner General Lesetja Mothiba expressed shock at the loss of life resulting from the latest shootings.

“It is disturbing that people would fire guns so casually… it is something we are looking into very seriously,” he said.

The Zama Zamas, comprising mostly foreigners, especially people from Lesotho, had fought to occupy shaft four of the Grootvlei mine, which was believed to contain the most remaining gold, said Ekurhuleni metro police department spokesperson Clifford Shongwe.

He told the Cape Times’s sister paper The Star yesterday that residents of Payneville, which is located close to the abandoned mines, were living in fear as Zama Zamas fired at random whenever the gang warfare broke out.

“The community said gunshots are fired mostly at night and that they do not feel safe anymore,” he said.

In April, The Star reported that police officers, who were called to respond to a shoot-out involving Zama Zamas in a Daveyton mine, had feared entering the shafts.

At the time, the police said they were unsure about exactly how much weaponry the Zama Zamas had, or their exact location.

The illegal miners are also believed to be well trained as most are believed to be ex-military men.