Gauteng Premier David Makhura says criminal activities committed by illegal miners are a question of national security.
Makhura was addressing the people of Kagiso on Sunday at a crime imbizo alongside Police Minister Bheki Cele.
The meeting follows the violent demonstrations in the West Rand township this week which were sparked by the gang rape of eight women at a mine dump in Krugersdorp late last month.
Makhura says most of the zama-zamas in South Africa are from specific countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and this is known by police.
“This is information that is not a secret. There are those who come from Lesotho…Zimbabwe…and there are those who come from Mozambique. There are three countries. To say this means we as South Africa also have to work with those SADC countries."
He says there needs to be a change in policing illegal mining.
“We can’t deal with this issue of illegal mining the same way we’ve been dealing with it again. We can’t keep doing this…and they are now gaining more confidence in that they are removing people from houses.”
Meanwhile – the people of Kagiso have called for the army to be deployed to combat illegal mining – but Cele insists his men and women are capable of fighting the scourge.
[JUST IN] Police Minister, General Bheki Cele tells the community of #Kagiso during the #KagisoImbizo that a request for the intervention of the #SANDF will be made, however before this happens, specialised units of @SAPoliceService will from Monday be deployed to #WestRand in GP pic.twitter.com/HDVwyiuxKN
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) August 7, 2022
