Police appeared to be losing the battle to regain control of marauding mobs in Kagiso, on the West Rand, as violence escalated with acts of vigilantism after a week of heightened law enforcement crackdowns on illegal mining activities.
As anger grew over the horrific gang-rape of young women while filming a music video in the Krugersdorp area allegedly by zama-zamas, as the illegal miners are known, communities took matters into their hands, rounding up groups of men found in mine dumps, stripping them naked before unleashing mob justice with sjamboks.
In other parts of the township, dozens of residents hunting down zama-zamas dismantled shacks rented out to people believed to be foreigners as rioting spread, with mobs invading some homes under the guise of ridding the area of crime.
The first attack took place at Soul City informal settlement on the outskirts of Kagiso where shacks and tents belonging to illegal miners were set alight and 21 men rounded up, stripped naked and made to lie face down while being beaten before police could arrive.
Some bled while others had scars to their legs, heads, backs, buttocks and chests.
When cops arrived to rescue the bleeding men and put them into their van, the mob simply moved on and no-one was arrested for the acts of vigilantism.
Residents took the law into their own hands, saying they were cleaning up the area, as they went into nearby mine dumps and bushes to search for illegal miners.
Armed with sticks, hammers, axes and pangas, they split into groups and began raiding bushes and mine dumps situated next to the township.
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Not long after disappearing into the bushes, residents emerged with a group of 20 men they believe are illegal miners in the area. They stripped them naked and sjamboked them.
Resident Bibo Magic said they do not want to see illegal miners ever again.
“We are cleaning up. We believe what we did today is enough to stop them from ever coming back to our community.
“They were terrorising us long before the Krugersdorp [gang] rapes. But when they did that to our sisters, it was [for us to see that it was] the end of it,” Magic said
“Deputy national commissioner for policing Lt-Gen Tebello Mosikili, who was in Kagiso, admitted police were overwhelmed as residents took matters into their hands.
“As much as the community is frustrated, we have been on the ground to calm the situation. We want to reassure the community that we will continue to work with them so that we arrest people engaging in criminal activities.
“I must be honest, we were overwhelmed. When our team was responding to one area, community members were at other areas. We managed to intervene in most areas and rescue people,” said Mosikili.
As early as 5am roads leading to Kagiso were blocked with burning tyres and rocks.
At the Randfontein Road entrance to the township, residents threw stones at police who were firing rubber bullets to contain the situation.
The mob increased in numbers and went into the bushes again.
Eight other alleged illegal miners were caught and handed over to the police. Accompanied by local private security, the mob moved deep into Soul City informal settlement where illegal miners had set up operations for sifting gold from sand.
They burnt down their tent-like structures as the illegal miners had already left. They only found gas cylinders, bottles of beer and clothes, which were some of the items that remained — showing the kind of life that took place in the settlement.
Most of the shacks had trenches inside, from where water from the cleaning of gold content runs to.
By 1pm, the residents, now numbered in thousands, met at the place where zama-zamas had conducted their operations.
They were addressed by Beyers van Staden of National Crime Assist.
He echoed Magic's sentiments about the clean up. “Let us come and finish these people once and for all,” he said.
As he spoke, a group of residents emerged from the bushes with another suspected illegal miner.
Just before the young man could climb into the van, a woman slapped him in the face, prompting other residents to join in, beating him with sticks.
Resident Khothibhodwe Dladla said what angered residents was the gang rape and they had to act.
“These people have been doing crime in our area for some time but what they did to those women is unacceptable. As a citizen of this country, it felt like there is no government in SA. People cannot just come into our space and rape women. There are police and soldiers in our country but they could not prevent that.
“We have decided to take the law into our hands because we feel our government is not doing enough to deal with illegal miners and their criminal acts in our community. The Krugersdorp incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Dladla said.
Councillor Kabelo Mohlope said: “We knew where they live so it was easy for us to get into the bushes and pull them out. Every day we see them. It was not difficult to find them.”
Provincial police spokesperson Col Brenda Muridili said by late afternoon, 26 people had been taken in by the police.
“Police are going to check their names and nationality ... if they are undocumented then they will be arrested. Three of them are in hospital. There is only one body of a male that was discovered in the morning. For now we cannot say what happened.
“We do not encourage what people did today. We call on people when they have a problem they must not take the law into their own hands but call the police to be the ones that deal with the situation,” Muridili said.
dlaminip@sowetan.co.za
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