Residents of a Gauteng community terrorised by zama zamas say calm has returned to the area since police launched Operation Vala Umgodi but fear fighting may break out again.
West Village, near Krugersdorp, on the West Rand, gained notoriety in 2022 when eight women were gang-raped allegedly by illegal miners while shooting a music video.
Resident Sidwell Makhafola says where zama zamas have been terrorising the community for years, the community is getting used to “living peacefully with the illegal miners”.
“We had been sleeping with one eye open as these people were breaking into our homes, attacking us. But since the police flushed them out, things have been back to normal.
“Now it’s scary that they tell locals that they will bring back anarchy if they get disrupted in their operations,” said Makhafola.
Another resident of West Village, Jacobus van der Merwe, said there had been a difference since police acted.
“Our kids can now play in the streets, and we can walk freely, but since some of the zama zamas have made threats that they will come for locals working in the mines that are being rehabilitated, this might start another war.”
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola said to date, 9 297 suspects have been arrested for various crimes in relation to illicit mining activities.
“These arrests were made in the seven mining provinces that have been identified as hotspots for illegal mining activities. They are Gauteng, North West, Northern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Kwazulu-Natal, and Free State.
Through these operations, 233 firearms and more than 5 800 rounds of ammunition were seized.”
Resident, Dineo Mohlala, said since Pan African Resources took over abandoned mines,
zama zamas have been threatening to return. “We are scared that the zama zamas will start terrorise us again.”
Pan African Resources head of investor relations Hethen Hira said they intended to re-process mining dumps and refill underground shafts to eradicate illegal mining.
A zama zamas leader told Sunday World: “We are going to work in the same rehabilitated mines as those employed and if they fight us, we will show them our true colours.”
Simon Mazibuko, who lives in Rietvallei township, said the illegal miners had helped stimulate the local economy.
“We rent out shacks and supply [them with] electricity, and they pay us good money,”
Mazibuko said.
