Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
04 August 2023 | 17:54 CAT

Police remove gas canisters from the Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg, where 17 people died after gas leaked from a nitrate oxide canister used by illegal miners. Image: Alaister Russell

The violence in the Riverlea area in Gauteng is continuing. This has led the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety to call for more stringent measures to end the escalating lawlessness and mayhem caused by illegal mining in the province.

This comes after five bodies of suspected illegal miners were discovered with gunshot wounds in Riverlea on Sunday, 30 July 2023. It is alleged that the five men were part of a gang of foreign illegal miners involved in a gun battle with a rival gang.

Radio Islam International spoke to the Portfolio Committee on Community Safety Chairperson, Bandile Masuku, about the escalation in violence linked to illegal miners, which is spreading on a large scale in different areas.

“The call for more stringent measures is an integrated approach as a seemingly number of challenges need to be dealth with. One of which is the mining activity itself is a part of economic sabotage and requires the Mineral Energy and Resource Depart to come onboard and hold the mining companies responsible,” he says.

The recent Riverlea incident indicates that little has been done since the call made by the Committee to end illegal mining in the province. Law Enforcement Agencies in the Province appear powerless and defeated in their fight against illegal mining.

The Committee has therefore resolved to call on the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety with the Provincial Police Commissioner to appear before it and give an account of what measures are being put in place to end illegal mining in the province.

The Committee further calls upon the Department of Mineral Resources to assist in holding Mining companies that previously owned these mines legally obligated and accountable for taking full responsibility for rehabilitating them.

As part of a heightened response, the Committee will write to the President of the Republic and the Premier of Gauteng to consider deploying Members of the South African National Defence Force to end the scourge of illegal mining in the province once and for all.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Moulana Junaid Kharsany.