GANG RAPES: NEW DETAILS EMERGE
Video producers often film at mine dumps
• Production house in process of deregistration as owners go underground
• Had we known they were heading to the mine dump, we could have warned them – owner of the venue where first scene was shot
• Producers of the music video have an affinity for taking videos at mine dumps
The horrific rape of eight young women last week, allegedly by a band of illegal miners commonly known as zama-zamas, could have been avoided had the TV production company they were on assignment for taken due care.
This was revealed by the owner of Cowboy Town Antique Flea Market, Romy Mare, who confirmed that the production company had used her venue to film the music video before they later proceeded to shoot some of the scenes at the mine dump, where the eight women were accosted and raped.
The incident took place at a notorious disused mine dump in Krugersdorp’s West Village on Thursday last week.
This paper reported last week that the crew shot the first scene at a venue named Cowboy Farm, however, we have now established that the scene was actually shot at an establishment called Cowboy Town Antique Flea Market.
Mare said the crew arrived at her establishment on July 28 where they spent three hours – between 7am and 10am – shooting a music video.
The company, REC Button Media, made the booking the previous day. The production house was earlier widely reported as Red Button Production.
“The lady who booked my venue had previously booked my venue for another music video. I saw a team of people who came to shoot the video when I arrived on 28 July, and once they had done filming the music video, they left our venue, but we did not know where they were heading to,” said Mare.
“If we knew that they were going to continue shooting their music video at the mine dump, we could have warned them about the dangers of going there. What happened to those women is cruel and sad.”
Mare said the police had already collected CCTV footage.
Several mysteries surround the production house. One of the owners seems to be using two different names. One of the names is Raphael Ugochukwu Metu, while on social media he calls himself Shawn Ray.
REC Button Media is in the process of being deregistered by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, according to our investigations. The man owns the company with Queen Nopopozana Lolwane, and the company was registered in 2019.
Sunday World established that the production company has filmed music videos, commercials and promos for well-known local artists.
We traced many REC Button Media videos and discovered that the company’s Instagram account is replete with music videos shot around mine dumps in Gauteng.
Attempts to get comments from Metu and Lolwane failed as their phones had been switched off throughout the week.
Another mystery surrounding this production house is why some of their crew members provided false residential addresses to the police. A visit by Sunday World to some of the addresses furnished to the police uncovered that they don’t live in the houses they claim to be residing at.
Police Minister Bheki Cele last week hinted that some of the crew members would be questioned and could possibly face arrest. He did not provide further details.
A resident who lives in West Village said last week’s gangrape was nothing new. “We have been living like these for seven years, where women and children get raped, and homes robbed by illegal miners. The police in Krugersdorp are useless as we are chased away whenever we report a crime.”
On Friday, residents of West Village gathered and blocked the entrance to the area with burning tyres and rocks in protest. “We are tired of these people and what they are doing here is nothing but anarchy. We cannot walk freely in our area because of these people and police are also doing nothing to keep our area safe. We have resorted to getting private security firms to patrol our area,” said Clayton van Niekerk.
On Thursday, residents of Kagiso unleashed their fury as they went all out to flush out illegal miners. Shacks allegedly belonging to illegal immigrants were also set alight.
The police have since arrested more than 100 suspected illegal immigrants in Krugersdorp.
It is not yet known how many of those arrested are linked to the gang-rape of the eight women, but police are investigating 32 counts of rape and 22 counts of armed robbery.