Gauteng Premier David Mahura was among several government officials who called for calm and vowed to take action after a tense meeting on the second phase of the Kagiso crime crackdown.
Gauteng Prime Minister David Makhura addresses the people of Kagiso at the Crime Imbizo event on 7 August 2022. Photo: @David_Makhura/Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – Gauteng Premier David Mahura says illegal miners scavenging Johannesburg’s depleted mines have gone beyond mining to criminal syndicates terrorizing residents and destroying infrastructure.
Mahura was one of several government officials who called for calm and vowed to take action after a tense meeting on the second phase of the fight against crime in Kagiso.
Dozens of residents took the law into their own hands when they ransacked mines in the township last week during a hunt for zama zamas.
Mahura described the scourge of illegal mining as a national security issue.
He said the province is dealing with well-trained and organized criminals.
“When you say they are well armed, they are the armed forces, they are not kidding. We need to mobilize the entire security capacity of our democratic state to respond in a way we have not done before,” said Mahura.
Meanwhile, Director General of Home Affairs Tommy Mahode said the department is working closely with neighboring countries to organize the deportation of undocumented foreign nationals.
“We can announce here that we can now deport them all. On Thursday we met with the Permanent Secretary of Lesotho and now we have agreed the system in terms of how we can push many of these deportations to Lesotho and other areas. We have already started,” Mahode said.
