By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Police minister Bheki Cele has confirmed the arrests of more than 20 suspected illegal miners in Riverlea, West of Johannesburg.
Residents are up in arms over what they believe to be the police’s inefficiency in handling violence among different groups of illegal miners in the area.
The protests began on Monday after one person was killed by a stray bullet last week during a shootout between police and suspected illegal miners.
Speaking in Cape Town on Wednesday, Cele said more law enforcement officers have been deployed in the area.
“There have been issues with the lack of forces on the ground. We did say we would escalate there. Today we have 56 forces made of different disciplines.”
“We have the NIU, TRT, public order police and municipal officers. Since this morning, more than 20 zama zamas have been arrested,” he told reporters.
The raids began on Wednesday and are expected to continue into Thursday as police try and uncover the zama zama (illegal miner) gangs behind a spate of shootings in the area.
Members of the South African Police Service’s elite units – National Intervention Unit and Special Task Force are deployed to crackdown on illegal mining in the informal settlement.
The units are searching for zama zamas and tools the illegal miners use to refine gold.
The informal settlement has become a breeding ground for zama zamas, who have over the past weeks been terrorising the community of Riverlea.
The latest incident comes after 21 bodies were discovered by the police following another shooting incident between illegal miners in November last year near an active mine in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg.
According to the police at the time, the incident was suspected to be due to a faction war between two groups of illegal miners.