Global syndicates behind illegal miner mass killings
Behind the violence are armies of heavily armed thugs, allegedly including police, who help syndicates wage a war for control of the highly lucrative underground turf
By JAN BORNMAN, GRAEME HOSKEN, KYLE COWAN and SHENAAZ JAMAL TURF wars between international crime syndicates are behind the deaths of more than 200 illegal miners murdered in the killing fields of South Africa's mines over the past four years. The latest casualties are 14 illegal miners, known as zama zamas, who were killed at the weekend on Gauteng's East Rand.The area has become the epicentre of a global battle between gangs for control of tons of precious metal in disused mine shafts. At the centre of the war are an estimated 30 000 illegal miners who, say the UN's inter-regional crime and justice research institute and the Mineral Resources Department, are used by syndicates to steal about R7-billion worth of gold a year from South Africa. The 14 bodies were found on Sunday and Monday, laid out in particular patterns. On Sunday six were found along a railway line in Benoni. The rest were found on Monday on the banks of a nearby stream. They are believed to have been killed elsew...
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