Frustrated residents of Primrose in Germiston, Ekurhuleni, have approached parliament to develop an urgent action plan to tackle illegal mining in the area, which they say is the cause of the high crime levels and frequent power outages they experience.
Ward councillor Wendy Morgan said they have submitted a petition to the portfolio committees for mineral resources and energy, police, home affairs and the environment to urgently implement a joint action plan to address illegal mining in the area.
Residents are also calling for the MPs to exercise oversight to ensure that:
- police in the area are adequately trained and resourced to act against illegal mining;
- action is taken against mines that allow old shafts to remain open;
- to fast-track legislation to regulate small-scale mining to create jobs; and
- to draw up financial regulations so that money obtained through mining activities benefits the local communities where the mining takes place.
Morgan said since August last year, they have reported cable theft more than 77 times, and their substation has been out over 40 times.
“It has been bad because at the end of the day, it affects the community for two days, three days. We have been getting [the community] to dump rubble and soil on the cable line so that it is not easy for them [cable thieves] to steal the cables,” she said.
“You often hear stray bullets coming through people’s ceilings. Fortunately, no-one has been hurt, but there is ground blasting that is making the residential area shake.”
Cable theft is another challenge, often leaving residents and local business owners in the dark for at least two or three days a week.
If it is not the ground shaking, it is the gunshots that sometimes last until the early hours of the morning. These gunshots allegedly emanate from the disused mine shafts as zama zamas are fighting for territory.
The chairperson of the Primrose community policing forum (CPF), Tracey Enslin, said a recent meeting with officials was positive, with representatives from the mayor's office, the premier's office and the department of community safety.
She said the local police station commander and the ward councillor were part of the meeting.
“We did a site visit at lower Main Reef Road, where zama zamas [illegal miners] are very active and constantly blasting underground. This blasting has got so bad that it has caused damage to residential properties in the area and is now causing a sinkhole on the N3 freeway,” she said.
Enslin said they showed officials the huge problem of cable theft that they are experiencing almost daily on Main Reef Road.
On the same street, wires of illegal connections are scattered on pavements, on one side of the road to a nearby informal settlement.
A resident and chairperson of the Primrose Residents Association, David Barr, said they have been carrying out operations every three days, but that doesn't deter illegal miners from continuing with their activities.
“Every night we still hear guns going off. It is still a battle; it [the meeting] hasn’t resolved the problem in any way. Last week we were out [without electricity] for three days, and I am not sure what the cause was. Obviously when the electricity goes off, the water goes off as well, which also becomes a problem,” he said.
“Usually, it starts happening around Wednesday and Thursday when they start stealing cables,” he said, adding that illegal connections worsened their plight.
“You cannot believe how bad it is [illegal connections]. We can’t even walk around there because it is just too dangerous.”
The chairperson of Germiston Business Forum, Wellington Mkhize, said cable theft in Primrose was rife. He said the forum has started a district improvement project, which involves the installation of face and number plate recognition cameras and monitoring the precinct.
“Cars that are coming to the precinct will be identified, and faces that are linked to crime will be identified. We are certain that once we put those measures in place, we will curb this crime because it is thriving,” he said.
He added that scrap yards operating in the area needed to be monitored.
“As businesses, they are actually promoting [this crime], they are giving incentives to the cable thieves to do what they are doing. Cable theft is so rampant in the Primrose area, it is crazy ... They cut your connection from the pole into the house while you are in the house.
“We have footage where people jumped on somebody’s roof. That kind of motivation means there is good money that these guys are getting. Since the council is not able to put stringent rules in place for the scrap yards to be monitored properly, we have to defend ourselves.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.