Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
04 August 2023 | 14:44 CAT

The bodies of five men believed to be illegal miners killed in a gunfight were found in Riverlea on Sunday morning. File image Image: Antonio Muchave

Another five people were believed to have been illegal miners or zama zamas killed. The latest incident happened in Riverlea and the nearby Zamimpilo informal settlement. It is believed that two rival groups of illegal miners started shooting at each other, which led to the death of the five people. The illegal mining industry has seen tension between rival zama zama groups escalating over the past year, leaving scores of people wounded or dead.

Radio Islam International discussed the escalation in tit-for-tat violence amongst illegal minors with mining analyst David Van Wyk.

“The challenge has to do with increased poverty and higher levels of unemployment in the country and the mining industry in general. The minerals are getting depleted as mining is not renewable and not sustainable, South Africa has not planned for a post mining economy resulting in large urban areas that are becoming ghost towns,” he said.

According to Van Wyk, thousands of migrant workers who used to work in mines have no other skills but mining; this has caused people to compete for abundant mine shafts to extract gold.

“Until there are mines that are not closed and rehabilitated properly as well as holding mining companies accountable for not doing so, this is the harvest we will continue to reap,” adds van Wyk.

Van Wyk says urgent action must be taken to stop the scourge of illegal mining.

“I think that we need to look deeper than the actual foot soldiers. We need to find out who is actually behind this, and we need to clamp down on the big guys. And unless we do that, it’s just like with drugs – we are just going to endlessly deal with fighting in the streets without actually cutting off the head of the problem.”

Listen to the full interview on Sabahul Muslim with Annisa Essack.