The zama zama group whose members were the targets of the Soweto tavern massacre is at the centre of the latest round of murders related to illegal mining in which five bodies were discovered last week in the Zamimpilo informal settlement.
The deadly internal war has seen more than 100 illegal miners arrested since law enforcement authorities clamped down on illegal mining in Zamimpilo, west of Johannesburg, and nearby in the wake of a fresh turf war.
At an imbizo organised by police minister Bheki Cele and SAPS management on Friday, residents from Riverlea and surrounding areas demanded the informal settlement be demolished if authorities were serious about tackling illegal mining.
Cele was in the area to update residents on efforts by police to tackle illegal mining in affected communities.
Rethabile Hlalele said the latest bodies were the result of a turf war brewing within the ranks of Terene ea Chakela.
Chakela members were able earlier this year to wrestle away mining shafts from rival group Seakhi.
The new mine shafts, located around Maraisburg, have since become a source of conflict between Chakela members based in the Jerusalem informal settlement and their fellow members in the New Canada informal settlement.
The new shafts were forfeited by Seakhi members to their rivals after joining their ranks in early 2023.
Hlalele explained that attacks started after members in Jerusalem demanded to play a bigger role in the newly obtained mine shafts.
“When these guys asked to join our ranks, we took them around to all the branches and made it known that they were now a part of Terene and that we would be working alongside them,” said Hlalele.
He said rumours of an attack surfaced soon after the defected members joined their ranks.
“We then had a meeting two Sundays ago where these guys from Jerusalem made it clear that refusing to let them work in the new mines would result in war. I was threatened openly. Then we started hearing of some of our members being murdered,” he said.
This is the latest episode in the group’s long history of deadly internal skirmishes since the death of its leader Mokete Chakela in 2021, which has resulted in the formation of two factions known as Terene ea Chakela and its splinter group Terene ea Mokata.
The latter was accused of being behind the Soweto tavern massacre in Nomzamo Park last year where 16 patrons were murdered.
Charges against the six accused in the matter were provisionally withdrawn in the Orlando magistrate's court last month due to insufficient evidence. This, after a key witness, Khotso Suwane was murdered after being abducted from his home.
The state’s challenge to build a case against the six accused was compounded by the murder of a member of the investigation team. The Sowetan reported that Det-Sgt Gavin Ndlovu was shot dead outside his neighbour’s home in Protea Glen Ext 35, Soweto, on March 12.
According to a police report, Ndlovu was gunned down by a person known to him while his daughter and neighbour were injured.
Sentebale Mokoena, the Chakela faction’s de facto leader in Gauteng, said the new wave of murders was due to greed.
“It’s hard to understand why these attacks are happening because we all come from the same organisation. Some of our members were able to find mines around Zamimpilo and the guys from Zamimpilo wanted to desert their shafts in Jerusalem and invade the mines in Zamimpilo,” said Mokoena.
“The illegal miners at Zamimpilo are not at fault in this case. They were ambushed. These guys from Jerusalem used this as a strategy to sabotage their operations by bringing a lot of attention to this area,” he said.
Mokoena said Jerusalem members had been vocal in denying membership to the defected Seakhi members after the murder and mutilation of at least 10 people, some of whom were found dead on the N1 near the Maraisburg off-ramp in September last year.
“They wanted us to murder them but the rest of the organisation rejected this approach as it would have led to an endless cycle of killings and would have brought unwanted attention to us,” he said.
— Additional reporting by Khanyisile Ngcobo.
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