Six 'zama zamas' shot, bludgeoned and mutilated

The badly mutilated bodies of six suspected illegal miners killed in the Maraisburg area, in the west of Joburg, on Tuesday night lay undiscovered overnight.

“Some of them had their eyes gouged out, some had their hands chopped off, one face was beaten in with a rock — it was terrible,” Basil Peters of the Bosmont Community Patrollers told TimesLIVE.

According to Peters, his crew was having a meeting at the soccer field when they heard shooting at about 6pm. Alarmed, they left the area and heard the shooting continue for more than an hour.

“You must understand, this is nothing new for the area. Every night we hear shootings. It’s like a war here — sometimes up to 50 gunshots in one night,” he said, explaining why there had not been much reaction to the early evening shootings.

Witness Eugene Neethling told eNCA he had seen five illegal miners standing at the opening to an abandoned mine in the cemetery. He said a big group of people — “it looked like more than a hundred” — had swarmed the men.

“And they hunted them down like a pack,” he said, echoing Peters’ words that the police do not respond to daily reports of gunshots reported in the area.

It was only at about 6am on Wednesday that the first body was discovered by a passer-by and reported to police. Searches of the area led to the discovery of another five bodies.

“There were two near the mine, one in Bosmont, two near the highway and one in the cemetery,” Peters said.

The discoveries prompted a large police response as a high-level delegation, numerous marked cars and a helicopter arrived.

Peters, who was on patrol from 8pm to 11pm on Tuesday, said there was no community involvement in the murders.

A manhunt is under way for the killers.

Gauteng police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili said police on Wednesday morning received a report of six bodies having been found in an area of open veld next to the N1 highway close to Bosmont and New Canada.

“Police proceeded to the scene and upon searching the area a total of six bodies with gunshot wounds were found,” she said.

Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela instructed members to “mobilise all the necessary resources” to investigate the murders. This included the police’s K9 unit and forensic services to comb the scene for evidence.

Muridili said the investigation was still at an early stage and the motive was not known. She said the nationalities of the slain men were unknown, but the police would be in contact with their countries through Interpol.

She said there were a confirmed 600 abandoned mines in Gauteng and that the special task force, the illicit mining combat team and other units were involved in the investigation.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.