Ga Maroga illegal miners granted bail
The head of the Limpopo Hawks, Major General Gopz Govender, has issued a stern warning to illegal miners, and particularly the masterminds behind them.
The three men arrested by the Hawks on charges of illegal mining, were granted R1 000 bail each by the
Mecklenburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Charles Maroga (35), Simphiwe Shabangu (37) and Steven Mgadula’s (57) cases were postponed to April 26
while investigations continue.
The trio were arrested during a successful operation consisting of the Limpopo Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation, the National Serious Organised Crime Investigation, the Provincial Illegal Mining Task Team, National Crime Intelligence, the Local Criminal Record Centre and the State Security Agency, at Ga-Maroga
Village in Driekop on February 25.
“The team received information about ongoing illegal mining activities in the area and swiftly conducted
a sting operation. When they pounced on the suspects, they were allegedly caught loading
chrome that was illegally mined onto the truck.
“During the operation, the team managed to seize a TLB, a tipper truck fully loaded with chrome, a Jeep Wrangler and a firearm with 18 rounds of ammunition. The seized assets are valued at R2m,” said the Limpopo Hawks spokesperson, Captain Matimba Maluleke.
The head of the Limpopo Hawks, Major General Gopz Govender, has issued a stern warning to illegal miners, and
particularly the masterminds behind them.
“It is high time that those who are involved in illegal mining activities refrain from such, because their days are numbered. We will use every resource at our disposal to fight this scourge.
We will also make sure that their assets accumulated through this criminal act are forfeited,” said Govender.
