Specialised police unit deployed to battle illegal mining in Gauteng
Specialised
police units will arrive in Kagiso on Gauteng's West Rand on Monday with a plan
to combat crime.
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola made the announcement during an imbizo in the community this past weekend.
Anger over rising crime levels boiled over last week and residents took matters into their own hands, torching the homes of foreigners and raiding makeshift mine shafts with the aim of driving out Zama Zamas.
It was after the horrific rapes of eight women in Krugersdorp by a group of men believed to have been illegal miners.
Masemola announced immediate policing interventions yesterday to tackle illegal mining and Zama Zamas in the area.
"I heard you, the people of West Rand. The operation will start and we will continue. We will employ the NIU, National Intervention Unit, the Special Task Force, and the TRT and include the K9. That operation will start here and move toward the Roodepoort side.
READ: Krugersdorp residents tell Cele they live in fear – ‘men or women, it’s all the same’
Police Minister Bheki Cele says these police teams are the first step in their plan to crack down on crime before they request the army's assistance.
He's explained officers will be heavily armed.
"I'm simply saying when they engage you, or any criminal engage you and you go two to two, don't retreat. But when the time comes, whe the dust settles and you are supposed to come and count as a body I don't want any police body there.”
