The Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit and the Department of Mineral and Resources have made a breakthrough in curbing illegal gold mining.
This comes after they have arrested two men who were found to be in possesion of gold bearing material, explosives, twenty bags of gold ore, gas bottles, pendukas and mercury all worth an estimated R1 million on Wednesday in Lestitele.
The two suspects, Steven Mashele and Thabiso Maahlela, appeared before the Naphuno Magistrate Court on Wednesday and they were remanded in custody until 4 April 2019 for formal a bail application.
Meanwhile On Thursday in Mapuve Village just outside Giyani and two more suspects aged between 24 and 30 were arrested for operating illegal gold laboratories.
The suspects are scheduled to appear before the Giyani Magistrate Court.
Tintswalo Shipalana, a journalist for the Letaba Herald, has been in the media industry for over a decade. She started her journey in radio, but ended up in print which is her first love. She joined the Herald newspaper as a cadet in 2016, where she graduated with a journalism qualification from the Caxton Training Academy. She also has a qualification in Feature Writing from the University of Cape Town and a Media Management qualification from Wits University. She is completing her BA Communication Science degree with UNISA. She sleeps well at night knowing she is a voice to the voiceless and her work contributes to promoting local talent, businesses and service delivery. Her love for her community keeps her working hard every day.
