The mine employee was nabbed for harbouring the illegal immigrants.
Eleven suspects have been arrested in connection with the mass shooting that left 10 people dead at the KwaNoxolo tavern in Bekkersdal, on Gauteng’s West Rand, over the weekend.
The shooting occurred in the early hours of Sunday, 21 December.
Initially, nine people were confirmed dead, and 10 others sustained serious injuries.
Investigations identified two individuals as possible suspects.
Bekkersdal mass shooting probe leads to arrests
Providing an update to the media on Wednesday, Gauteng deputy police commissioner Fred Kekana confirmed that the arrest of the first two suspects led police to a house, where nine additional suspects were apprehended.
One of the two initial suspects was found in possession of an AK-47 rifle, while the other individuals were arrested with four pistols in their possession.
Kekana suggested that the house belonged to the Sibanye-Stillwater Mine, whose security team assisted police during the arrest operation.
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He explained that the property had been allocated to a mine employee, who had since been arrested for harbouring illegal immigrants.
The employee, a South African national, could also face a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
“To harbour people who are wanted criminals or you know are in possession of firearms and what they are doing on its own is a crime,” Gauteng deputy police commissioner said on Wednesday.
Foreign nationals among suspects, firearms seized
Kekana told reporters that nine of the arrested suspects are Lesotho nationals, while one is from Mozambique.
The foreign nationals will face charges related to being in South Africa without the required documentation, possession of illegal firearms, and possession of unlicensed ammunition.
He said all confiscated firearms will be sent to the police’s Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic testing.
“All of them will be taken to our forensic [lab], for ballistic tests to see whether they are linked to any specific criminal incident, but the main focus is the Bekkersdal one for now, because we managed to get over 30 rounds of pistols.
“We managed to get over 30 rounds of AK-47. We also managed to get three rounds of R5 rifles.”
READ MORE: Why the deadly tavern killings?
According to Kekana, the same firearms were used during the Bekkersdal mass shooting.
“There at the scene we got cartridges; we got even live ammunition left of the same type of firearms.”
He added that the suspect found in possession of the AK-47 was one of the two initially identified through intelligence gathering.
“For now, the one whom we suspected, we still have to deal with him to check certain things.”
Kekana further said some firearms remain unaccounted for, since at least 10 suspects were involved in the shooting.
“There is still a 4.45 rifle out there. There is still a R5 rifle out there. It’s part of the investigation, and we’ll see what we can do.”
Possible motive
When asked whether the shooting could be linked to illegal mining activities in the Bekkersdal area, Kekana stressed that no motive could be ruled out at this stage.
“You can’t rule anything out because, as you can see how they are dressed.”
He added that among the exhibits recovered was a bottle containing a mineral or liquid used to clean and test gold.
Addressing whether the mine could be held liable for the suspects’ presence on its premises, Kekana dismissed the notion, praising the mine’s cooperation with law enforcement.
“No, the mine is the one that was playing a leading role in assisting with the investigation and in assisting in identifying those houses.
“Therefore, they play a very critical positive role in ensuring that we resolve this issue of concern, we resolve this issue of people having firearms and being undocumented within our space.
“I don’t think we have to go to another negative approach. They played a very critical role.”
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