LIMPOPO – The Limpopo Provincial Organised Crime Unit conducted an operation over the weekend on illegal mining in the Mecklenburg policing area where the four trucks were confiscated.
The two suspects appeared in the Mecklenburg Magistrate’s Court on charges of illegal mining on Monday, 28 August. Police supplied information that the two suspects, Justice Mogale (47) and Johannes Petrus Kirchner (49), were released on R2 000 bail each.
he two have to appear in court again on 16 October and police are continuing with investigations.
The case against two other suspects, Ferdinand Janse van Rensburg and Wilco Ludwig Bothma, who appeared in the Thabamoopo Magistrate’s Court on 1 August for a bail hearing, was postponed to 22 September, to coincide with the cases against seven other suspects arrested in April.
The two are said to have travelled to China and Hong Kong to facilitate chrome transactions. They alleged they were working for a company called African Mining Consultants, but no trace of this company could be found, according to the investigating officer, Sgt Letlotlo Ledwaba. The two were released on R8 000 bail each.
Ebrahim Kadwa of the Hawks’ organised crime unit briefed MPs in Cape Town on Friday, 25 August on the chrome being illegally extracted in Limpopo, while sand mining is also growing in the province as well as other provinces. Parliament’s Mineral Resources Committee said it may have to look into introducing legislation to formalise small scale mining, with the illicit mining of gold, platinum and chrome showing no signs of tapering off.
The committee heard on Friday that illicit mining is impacting on national security, with miners and police officers being shot at. Desperate grandmothers and children in Limpopo are also joining ‘zama zamas’ to make a living by mining chrome with their bare hands. The Committee’s Chairperson, Zet Luzipho, said: “One of the reasons is the issue of illegal mining, when it comes to trade, also poses a national security risk. How do you legalise the illegal, or how do you formalise the non-formal?”
LIMPOPO – The two suspects, who were arrested over the weekend for illegal mining were both released on R2000 bail, each.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo says the case has been remanded till 16 october for further police investigations to take place.
LIMPOPO – In an ongoing fight against illegal mining in the Burgersfort and Lebowakgomo Clusters, the Limpopo Provincial Organized Crime Unit conducted an operation in the Mecklenburg policing area over the weekend. During this operation four trucks full of unprocessed chrome were confiscated and two suspects aged 47 and 49-years-old were arrested, said Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo.
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This follows recent events where two alleged ‘mining kingpins’, from Pretoria and Rustenburg respectively, were arrested and appeared before the Thabamoopo Magistrate’s Court in Lebowakgomo.
https://www.citizen.co.za/review-online/220046/light-shed-illegal-mining-limpopo/
