Africa-Press – South-Africa. Police Minister Bheki Cele said the police would enhance their working relationship with the departments of home affairs and mineral resources and energy to arrest the scourge of illegal mining.
Cele addressed the media and residents during a site visit in Stilfontein, Klerksdorp, the North West.
His visit followed the arrest of 20 suspected illegal miners during a raid on mine shaft by police and the Hawks on Monday.
“It cannot be that the police will deal with this growing scourge alone. The Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Mineral Resources also have a critical role to play in assisting with the identification of such persons involved or the rehabilitation of mine shafts that have been left open,” said Cele.
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He said police were working in collaboration with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to close open mine shafts that have become sites for illegal mining.
“In other circumstances, the police are also working with the owners of these mines who have to also play a role in rehabilitating them,” added Cele.
On Monday, police arrested 20 suspected illegal miners and seized 15 AK-47s, six hunting rifles, two shotguns, an R5, 6 000 rounds of ammunition, explosives, and an undisclosed amount of money.
Cele said 13 of the suspects were “Lesotho nationals, five South African, one Zimbabwean, and one from Swaziland”.
He urged the police to build on the success of the arrests.
Cele was accompanied by the police’s top brass – which included national police commissioner Fannie Masemola, Hawks national head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya and North West police commissioner Lieutenant-General Sello Kwena – on his site visit to Stilfontein.
He took the opportunity to give an update on the case against 14 men accused of raping eight women who were shooting a music video at an abandoned mine in West Village, Krugersdorp, on 28 July.
“Fourteen of those guys were positively identified, but the laboratories processing their DNA have requested more samples from seven of the 14 accused.
“They [the laboratory] requested new samples. They only requested seven samples out of the 14; I am guessing this means the other seven were positively identified. The laboratories should be announcing the DNA results soon,” said Cele.
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