Soldiers continue to work in tandem with police to curb illegal mining with the arid, but mineral-rich Northern Cape the latest in the sights of Operation Vala Umgodi teams.
A SA Police Service (SAPS) statement has it multi-disciplinary teams comprising soldiers, Department of Home Affairs (DHA) immigration services personnel, police and provincial traffic officers arrested 22 suspects last week.
Seven were nabbed in the Frances Baard District, one of five in the province with headquarters in Kimberley, with the other 15 taken into custody in the Namakwa District.
The Namakwa arrests were for illegal mining and being in South Africa sans the necessary documentation. To support the illegal mining charges police confiscated what the statement said were “numerous mining implements believed to be utilised in the commission of illegal mining offences”.
Those arrested at vehicle checkpoints in and around the provincial capital face charges in connection with illegal immigration.
Police were also out in force in the adjacent North West province during last week arresting just short of eight hundred suspects in a seven-day period.
The tasking, executed in terms of the SAPS Operation Shanela, saw arrests made for, among others, rape; murder; assault; GBH (grievous bodily harm); malicious damage to property; burglary residential and business; motor vehicle and motorcycle theft as well as theft from motor vehicle. Fifty-four suspects were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Of the 793 arrested suspects, 347are wanted for contact crimes including murder and attempted murder. The crackdown also netted 29 undocumented persons who will undergo DHA processing.
Multiple arrests have taken place in July for illegal mining activity. In the most recent incident, police reported that two Lesotho nationals suspected to be involved in illegal mining activities at Mashobota Farm in Mpumalanga were arrested in Rob Ferreira hospital in Nelspruit after they were found with gunshot wounds. The two suspects were allegedly shot at in the illegal mining site.
Police further arrested another three suspects – two Zimbabweans and one Lesotho national – who were rendering assistance to the injured suspects in hospital.
In mid-July in Kimberley, 20 suspects were arrested during Operation Vala Umgodi efforts. They were apprehended for illicit mining, contravening the Immigration Act, housebreaking and theft. Also in mid-July, two suspects were arrested for illegally mining sand at the Molototsi river in Limpopo. Their truck was also confiscated.
At the beginning of the month, the SA National Defence Force assisted police and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in apprehending 28 illegal miners at various locations in Limpopo. Three trucks as well as various mining equipment was seized, resulting in Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, commending members for their dedication and swift action.
The initial military involvement in Vala Umgodi ended on 25 April and was extended for a further six months to 31 October by Presidential notification to National Assembly (NA) Acting Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli. Just over three thousand SANDF personnel, the majority from the SA Army Infantry Formation, continue to support police on “disruptive actions” to halt illegal mining.
Apart from illegal mining, Vala Umgodi also deals with other crimes, including transnational ones, and has recovered drugs and illicit cigarettes, amongst others.
The SANDF involvement in Vala Umgodi was rocked by tragedy on 6 July when four soldiers succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning while on guard duty at a disused mine in the Orkney area of the North West province.
