South Africa: Five Killed As Rival Groups Of Illegal Miners Clash

No fewer than five persons have been killed in Johannesburg, South Africa after a deadly clash between two rival groups of illegal miners, the police announced Sunday.

Bodies of the suspected illegal miners according to the police were recovered near an abandoned mine shaft close to a slum in the suburb of Riverlea west of Johannesburg.

“Preliminary investigation suggests that two rival groups of the illegal miners were shooting at each in the area” police said in a statement.

Investigation has commenced into the killings, with the police appealing to the public to come up with useful information that will help unravel circumstances surrounding the shooting.

With an unemployment rate of more than 32 percent, South Africa houses thousands of illegal miners, popularly called “zama zamas” (“those who try” in the Zulu language).

The Johannesburg region is dotted with slag heaps, shafts and deep trenches left by generations of miners, whose arrival in a gold rush in the 1880s led to the birth of the city.

Access to these old mines is controlled by gangs of zama zamas, AFP reports.

In September last year, local media reported that at least seven illegal miners were shot and killed near the same slum.