Just more than a month after the SANDF raided informal settlements in Primrose and arrested illegal miners, zama zamas are back and the community is feeling their presence.
On Wednesday, the Primrose CPF was forced to send an alert to residents that they should not come anywhere near the Simmer and Jack landfill site next to Marathon informal settlement as illegal miners were exchanging fire.
Primrose CPF chairperson Tracy Enslin said the gunfight began at 5.45am and lasted for two hours.
“The illegal miners were using high calibre rifles in their fight. It was really bad. I had to issue an alert for the people travelling to work not to drive into the crossfire. We also had to urgently get security to go to Primrose Hoer School because the children were still arriving.
“We knew it was not over but we thought it was going to start subsiding and the zama zamas would start moving somewhere else. The SANDF has been here twice in December, and once in January. Every time they’ve been here they make a lot of arrests and confiscate so much illegal mining equipment.
“I think we are sitting with over 100 generators in one of our warehouses. All the phendukas and everything we confiscated we’ve had destroyed. The community members are living in terror. It is absolutely terrifying what they have to go through because of the clashes among the zama zamas,” Enslin said.
Primrose residents have told TimesLIVE Premium how they were forced to lie on the floor inside their homes immediately when the gunfights begin.
On December 1, the SANDF and the police raided the Marathon informal settlement, where illegal miners live and arrested more than 100 zama zamas.
Police also confiscated generators, phendukas, explosives and other equipment used in illegal mining. Marathon informal settlement is across the road from the landfill site where the mine shaft is.
The use of SANDF comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government would deploy soldiers in areas that are troubled by illegal mining.
Enslin said the community has started looking for other options such as erecting a wall between the landfill site and the suburb to protect the residents.
“We are also concerned about the safety of people who live in Marathon informal settlement, they also need protection. It is a difficult situation.”
“Government has to close the holes, those mineshafts have to be sealed. There is no point in arresting these guys and leaving the mine shafts open. We’ve got to close those holes. The department of mineral resources and energy has been approached about this and nothing seems to be happening,” she said.
Police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said police are aware of the shooting that took place in Primrose.
“The police did respond to reports of shooting this morning at Simmer and Jack dumping area in Primrose but they found nothing. No injuries or arrests were recorded.
“The police, together with other law enforcement agencies including the SANDF, continue to combat, disrupt and dismantle the illegal mining activities in that area. The operations are conducted on a weekly basis. The arrested suspects have appeared before court on various charges,” said Nevhuhulwi.
It is alleged that zama zama wars escalate after police raids and big arrests, mainly because there is a void and new groups battle it out to take over the mining operations.
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