Illegal mining gangs
Hawks clamp down on illegal mining in Limpopo
Four men were arrested on Thursday at in Burgersdorp during a joint operation between the Hawks and the national intervention unit.
Chief researcher at the Bench Marks Foundation David van Wyk says that the problem is too complex to blame zama zamas.
They were arrested on Sunday in an operation by the crime prevention unit.
Officials say they found explosives after searching a shack belonging to one of the suspects.
The women were murdered, and another seriously wounded, at an informal settlement near Daveyton on the East Rand.
No arrests in the case of seven zama zamas who were killed in the Benoni area have yet been made.
The police's Lungelo Dlamini says that the area is notorious for these kinds of murders.
Officials say it’s an organised crime involving people who are unemployed and desperate to earn a living and put food on the table.
However, Zambia had not only not provided strong proof of the crimes of the 31 detained but had also detained a pregnant woman and two victims of malaria, Lin said.
Twenty-two illegal miners, including a kingpin, have been sentenced between 20 and 25 years in prison in the High Court sitting in Virginia in the Free State.
The call comes after the bodies of 14 suspected illegal miners were discovered on the East Rand earlier this week.
A passerby discovered the first six bodies dumped near a train station in Benoni on Sunday, and eight more were found by police on Monday.
NUM says it’s concerned about recent spikes in the illegal activity and the easy access to disused mines.
Illegal miners say the bodies of 11 of their counterparts are trapped underground.
The illegally mined gold is exported overseas through the 'hawala system'.
The commission says it can confirm illegal mining takes place in seven provinces.
Thousands of illegal miners travel deep underground each day in Johannesburg in search of gold. The work is dangerous and at times, deadly.
Police's clampdown on abandoned shafts has led to turf war over territory.
At least 18 shacks and two houses were razed to the ground when the groups faced off in Embalenhle.