Katlehong cops raid zama zama’s mining shack
Two suspects were arrested while several others fled the scene.
A gold-dust refining plant operating from a rented shack in Holomisa informal settlement near Katlehong’s Nlhapo section was busted by the SAPS in the early hours of the morning of October 9.
Two suspects were arrested while several others fled the scene.
According to Capt Mathobela, the media liaison officer for the Katlehong North SAPS, the raid was part of the precinct’s regular raid on the operations of zama zamas at an old mine shaft in the area.
Among the hoard of self-made gold-processing equipment found by the police was a variety of hand-made gold-sifting and extracting equipment identical to the original tools used by the mining industry.
Sgt Ralph Goliath, sector commander for the Roodekop area, said the estimated value of the recovered tools and equipment was worth several hundred thousand Rand.
Among the items found by the police during the raid included:
• Two brand-new large generators
• Underground head torches
• Hand-operated gold-sifting steel rollers
• Electrical gold-sifting bins
• Hand-operated soil stumping steel rods
• Gas cylinder bottles.
Goliath described the zama zama mining operation, which is situated not more than 5km away from the Katlehong North SAPS, as an illegal joint mining operation consisting of gang members from different parts of Ekurhuleni, other provinces around the country, as well as non-South Africans from other parts of the continent.
Goliath told Kathorus MAIL that the illegal mining syndicates are highly skillful professionals who are well vested in gold mining and the various gold purification processing methods.
“There is no doubt that these people are not novices. They fully understand the entire process of mining and purification of the mineral and they have manufactured their own equipment to perfect their illegal operations,” said Goliath.
Mathobela added almost half a dozen people who have been reported dead in the area have been linked to illegal mining. Mathobela recalled how in early September the Katlehong North SAPS found a body of a young man wrapped in plastic hessian bags and dumbed not far from the police in Nhlapo section.
Upon closer inspection, they found a piece of paper stuffed the victim’s clothing with a cellphone number written on it.
“When we called the number, the person answering confirmed the young man was a known relative and had been working with zama zama gangs as an illegal miner.
“Police believe the young man may have died underground by accident or was killed during the many feuds that sprout up occasionally between different gangs.”
According to Mathobela, the mining tools found in the shack were used to extract several tons of underground mine soil believed to contain retrievable particles of gold, which would then be extracted and sold to the syndicates who run the gold black market.
Mathobela said gold-mining syndicates view their undocumented and illegal gold operation as a job-creation exercise.
The police have since learnt that a labourer who operates a hand-operated soil-sifting machine can earn anything up to R40 an hour.
Mathobela admitted that those who are involved in it often invest close to R100 000 for yields of millions of Rands in this business.
