A bloody turf war among illegal miners in Maraisburg, western Johannesburg, where 10 bodies were found this week, is directly linked to the displacement of the gang believed to be behind the Krugersdorp mass rapes.
The Sunday Times has established that illegal miners who operated in the Krugersdorp area until the gang rape have sought refuge in other parts of Gauteng, where they have been muscling their way on to the territories of rival illegal mining groups.
On Wednesday, communities around Maraisburg awoke to the gruesome discovery of seven mutilated bodies along the N1 highway. Two days before the bodies of three illegal miners with gunshot wounds were found in the same area, said Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela.
Dikgang Molefenyane, an illegal miner who was on the scene during the attack on his fellow zama zamas, told the Sunday Times their group, Terene ea Chakela, was attacked by members of the rival Seakhi group.
According to Molefenyane, the Chakela group had been operating in abandoned mines along Main Reef Road for more than five years. On Tuesday night, they were accosted by a group of more than 100 Seakhi members. This group, he said, originally conducted their operations in Krugersdorp.
He said three Lesotho nationals were among the dead and seven were from Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
The two groups, both with their roots in Mafeteng, Lesotho, have been caught up in a cycle of killings and revenge killings since 2010.
“There were more than 100. At first we thought they were community members until they opened fire on us. Some of us were able to escape and we got to a place where we could see what they were doing. Those who could not make it were shot, beaten and stoned. They took our gold ore and equipment and we have not returned to the mine since Tuesday,” said Molefenyane.
Basil Peters of Bosmont community patrollers operating in the area, earlier this week said the scene of the attack was horrific. “Some had their eyes gouged out, some had their hands chopped off, one face was beaten in with a rock — it was terrible.”
“You must understand, this is nothing new for the area. Every night we hear shootings. It’s like a war here — sometimes up to 50 gunshots in one night,” he added.
Witness Eugene Neethling told eNCA he had seen five illegal miners standing at the opening to an abandoned mine in the cemetery. He said a big group of people — “it looked like more than a 100” — swarmed on the men. “And they hunted them down like a pack.”
At first we thought they were community members until they opened fire on us
— Dikgang Molefenyane, an illegal miner.
Another zama zama, Kabelo Kibinye, said the group that attacked them came from Zamimpilo informal settlement, where illegal miners from Krugersdorp were given refuge after police swooped on the area after the gang rapes in July when eight women were attacked by scores of men.
Fourteen people have been charged but police believe many of the culprits are hiding in Lesotho.
Kibinye said the huge influx of illegal miners from the West Rand had created problems for them.
“We are a predominantly Basotho group, but we operate with people from other countries. This was not an attack by groups from other countries, this is a Basotho on Basotho fight because they are trying to force us out of this area,” he said.
The Sunday Times contacted a leader from the Seakhi group, who identified himself as Lekase. He denied involvement in the murders but confirmed the two groups have been at war for years.
“We know nothing about those murders. We did not attack anyone because we are a peace-loving organisation,” he said.
Mawela said the police were aware that zama zama groups have started moving into the area because of law-enforcement operations that disrupted illegal mining activities in parts of Gauteng.
“We know that zama zamas move from one area to another and fight over turf. You can see they are active in Langlaagte, Sophiatown next to the cemetery and in Florida [western Johannesburg],” he said.
“As we continue with our police operations, we are making their spaces smaller and smaller which pits them against each other because they want to control their small spaces. We are also seeing new operational areas (mushrooming) and we have identified 600 abandoned shafts in the province. The SAPS is working with the department of minerals and energy to locate the owners of these mines so we can police the areas and they can rehabilitate the mines,” he said.
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