Suspected Zama Zamas shot and arrested in Benoni
JOHANNESBURG – One man died and six others were wounded during a shootout between illegal miners and members of the police’s National Intervention Unit (NIU) in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, police said on Friday.
Police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo said the unit, acting on information on the possible proliferation of guns, pulled over a minibus with a group of male occupants in Benoni area in the East Rand on Thursday evening.
Naidoo said this group apparently consisted of illegal miners, also known as zama-zamas, and their so-called "protectors".
"Immediately after stopping the suspect vehicle, a shootout ensued, resulting in one NIU member being shot and wounded," Naidoo said.
"Six suspects were also shot during the shootout but one died a short while later while five of them were taken to hospital under police guard."
Naidoo said the wounded policeman was in stable condition in hospital.
He said the unit also arrested a further six suspects and recovered five handguns.
The recovered firearms would be sent for ballistic testing to establish if they were used to commit other crimes, Naidoo said.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation