'Get out of the holes before we close them,' Cele warns Riverlea zama zamas

Police minister Bheki Cele has warned zama zamas operating in Riverlea, Johannesburg, to come out from underground as all of the holes dug up for illegal mining will soon be permanently closed.

Cele was speaking at an imbizo with the community on Friday following community protests against illegal mining which started after five bodies of suspected illegal miners were discovered on Monday.

Since then, police have arrested 194 suspected illegal miners, 170 of them undocumented foreign nationals.

During his visit, Cele said he had discovered that two holes which were previously closed had been reopened for illegal mining and that the area had 61 holes from which zama zamas were operating.

“Tell them to come out. Where you have spotted these people, speak to the police and all of us will work to take the people out ... There are people illegally there and they must find their way out. If they don’t leave, our job is to close the holes. We did not send them there. Our first choice is that they must come out but we will not wait forever,” he said.

Cele denied claims that only zama zamas were targeted, saying there had been arrests of the “middlemen who receive the gold and resell it to the top guys”.

The “top guys” live in Sandton and Dubai while the middlemen live in homes which look ordinary from outside but are filled with expensive imported furniture, Cele said.

He said 89 people had been arrested while shifting gold bars worth R5m each.

“A few months ago, in Carletonville, we arrested six of these [middle] guys ... Those six men had Lamborghinis and Mercedes-Benzes.”

Johannesburg city manager Floyd Brink said the department of mineral resources & energy and energy said the holes would be closed by mid-September, with the help of the municipality.

The city would also provide teams to help.

“These illegal miners don’t only risk [their own lives] but those of people around here. The infrastructure of the city is under attack. Illegal mining results in illegal dumping, cable theft and vandalism,” Brink said. He said the mining made the ground unstable and it could cave in.

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