Police Minister General Bheki Cele leads walkabout in Riverlea hotspot. Photo: SAPS/ Facebook
Riverlea Zama-Zama saga: Bheki Cele mobilises specialised units
The Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele said specialised units will be deployed in Riverlea, currently tormented by Zama-Zama gangs.
Police Minister General Bheki Cele leads walkabout in Riverlea hotspot. Photo: SAPS/ Facebook
The Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele has assured the community of Riverlea, tormented by Zama-Zama gangs, that police are mobilising all its resources and specialised units to restore law and order in the community.
INTERVENTION BY BHEKI CELE IN RIVERLEA
Today, Monday, 31 July, General Cele led a high-level delegation of senior police officers to the area to assess the local police’s responses to illegal mining in the area and other crime challenges raised by the community.
This after 20 Zama-Zama gang members were wounded and five killed following a gun battle over the weekend.
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General Cele engaged with community leaders and locals in the area and assured them that police are constantly devising strategies and operational plans to combat illegal mining operations in various provinces.
Between 01 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, Cele revealed that 1199 illegal miners were arrested including 100 South Africans, 124 Zimbabweans, 232 Basotho nationals from Lesotho and 79 Mozambicans.
Cele
“R1, 8 million rand, 9 991 rounds of ammunition, 177 vehicles, 7 trucks, 771 digging tools, 5 TLBs, 233 phendukas and 771 digging tools were seized amongst other items.”
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STRATEGY TO COMBAT ZAMA ZAMA ILLEGAL MINING
The Minister of Police, General Bheki Cele said specialised units will be deployed to the area.
“These specialised units are being brought in to ensure we apprehend these illegal miners and put a stop to these illegal operations. Our focus is to ensure law and order is restored in this area. We cannot have a situation where communities live in fear, we are going to deal decisively with these criminals”, said General Cele.
PROGRESS SINCE 2022
Since May 2022, the 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, Cele stated.
