JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on Thursday called on all affected stakeholders to expose the real “kingpins” of the illegal mining sector after five alleged illegal miners were found shot dead at an abandoned mine in Benoni, Gauteng, this week.
Committee chairperson Sahlulele Luzipho, who believed that Parliament, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and State security forces should join forces, expressed concern over the “sporadic killings associated with alleged gangsterism within the illegal mining sector”.
This had followed the police’s discovery of five bodies of assumed illegal miners on Wednesday.
The rise of violent suspected mining-related clashes in the region – and the resultant assaults and murders – between alleged illegal miners had been thrust into the spotlight after a number of incidents over the past year.
In February, a shoot-out at an old mine shaft in Benoni had left four suspected illegal miners dead and three injured.
“We are confident that they will make arrests shortly,” he said, adding that the committee, which had visited Gauteng in September, was “shocked to learn that illegal mining was rife”.
The committee had requested the DMR rework its 2015/16 Annual Performance Plan to incorporate programmes and budgets aimed at “decisively” dealing with illegal mining.