Riverlea violence: Ramaphosa to meet with security cluster

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet with members of the security cluster on Saturday, 5 August 2023, to discuss interventions amid the ongoing violence in Riverlea, Johannesburg.

Nearly two dozen suspected illegal miners were gunned down in what is reported to be a turf war at the Zamimpilo Informal Settlement.

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MILITARY INTERVENTION IN RIVERLEA?

Police Minister Bheki Cele has hinted at the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) possibly being deployed to Riverlea, to help tackle the ongoing violence in the area.

Cele visited Riverlea on Friday, 4 August 2023 and addressed community members who are outraged by the situation and even threatened to take matters into their own hands.

“The president has given the instruction that we should stop dealing with zama-zamas on ‘peace meal’. Together with the ministers of Defence and Home Affairs, we will sit with the president and put a plan in place to that we don’t have this problem moving from Krugersdorp to Riverlea, to Benoni to Florida. We have to find a way of dealing with it once and for all,”

Police Minister Bheki Cele

GOVERNMENT TACKLING ILLEGAL MINING

According to Cele, since 2022, SAPS ensured the establishment of the Economic Infrastructure Task Teams (EITT). Twenty teams have been set up in hot spot areas to combat illegal mining, prevent damage to critical and essential infrastructure as well as extortion on construction sites.

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