Top brass visit Krugersdorp gang rape site again

Police minister Bheki Cele and top SAPS management on Sunday afternoon headed out to the West Rand to visit the area where a gang rape took place, sparking unrest in the area.

The attack happened on a July weekend when a production company went to film a music video in Krugersdorp’s West Village where they were planning to use mine dumps as the background.

However, a gang of armed men — alleged by the local community to be illegal miners living and working in the area — attacked the crew. A number of men escaped, but eight women were raped — some of them more than once.

The incident gained high-level attention as the local community was up in arms, calling for military intervention and a crackdown on the illegal miners or zama zamas as they are called. This triggered numerous visits to the area by high-level officials as well as home affairs representatives carrying out checks on the legal status of foreigners in the area.

Numerous arrests have been made, and Cele has continued to keep in contact with the community.

On Sunday afternoon national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola led a walkabout through the area, interacting with residents to gauge their feelings after the recent deployment of the SAPS to the area to tackle illegal mining and other rampant crime.

“The aim of the walkabout is to provide the police top brass with the opportunity to hear residents' lived experiences on the effectiveness of the specialised deployment to counter illegal mining on the West Rand,” said police ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba.

Community members spoke with Cele, who reassured them police would continue to monitor the situation. The atmosphere was lighter and more cheerful than previous visits when he was heckled and yelled at by angry crowds.

Police were this week hit with a summons by the information regulator after they failed to respond adequately to an information notice from the regulator requesting details of the leak of personal details and information of the eight women targeted in the gang rape incident. 

The regulator is investigating the leak to determine who failed to correctly implement the Protection of Personal Information Act, who is to blame and provide necessary recourse to the victims whose right to privacy was possibly violated.