The Limpopo Police’s Vala Umgodi Task Team arrested four foreign nationals following the discovery of an illegal gold processing laboratory in Tzaneen on Saturday. They nabbed three Zimbabweans and a Mozambican when they raided a plot along the R71 near Tarentaalrand, Mopani District, in the northern part of South Africa. Zimbabweans John Vondo (39), Hardlife Manjoko (35), Biggie Chimwero (36) and Samuel Mashaba (46), a Mozambican national, appeared briefly before the Ritavi Magistrate’s Court outside Tzaneen town, on Monday, 10…

Patriotic Alliance (PA) Deputy President Kenny Kunene says he is unfazed by the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) threats to report him to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) over his disparaging comments about illegal miners, also known as Zama Zamas. Dismissing EFF President Julius Malema as a “lover of illegal foreigners” Kunene says his party, known for its anti-immigration policy, will always put South Africans ahead of foreign nationals who are in the country without valid documents. Kunene, a…

The South African government has reasserted its authority over illegal miners and vowed to escalate its crackdown, saying they are criminal elements who took over and used abandoned mines to perpetrate crime.  President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration has refused to back down on its demands that hundreds of illegal miners holed up in a disused mine in Stilfontein near Klerksdorp in the West resurface and surrender themselves or face starvation underground.  On Thursday, national police spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe insisted that…

The South African Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, says efforts to root out those at the top of the illegal mining value chain are well on course, with “Level 5” kingpins identified as living in Dubai and Sandton. According to Cele, the Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security (JCPS) cluster has identified five distinct groups involved in illegal mining: miners, buyers, sellers, machine owners, and “kingpins” who reap the greatest financial rewards. Cele, who spoke at an ANC national executive committee…

The war on illegal mining is gaining ground in Limpopo with the police in the province arresting suspects almost every week. The Provincial Illegal Mining Task Team, together with Provincial Organised Crime Unit, netted three undocumented foreign nationals this week at a farm in Zeekoegart Mountain, provincial police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said.  “The officers confiscated illegal mining equipment valued at R67 000 during disruptive operations conducted at separate locations under Apel policing area in Sekhukhune District.  “Police were conducting an…