Urgent measures were required to tackle the perilous state of many of SA’s mining towns, officials from the Department of Mineral Resources and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) told a joint parliamentary committee on police and mineral resources in Cape Town on Friday.Illegal mining operations and syndicates were rampant and left communities at the mercy of violent gangs. The illegal miners themselves are vulnerable to the effects of their deadly activities in derelict shafts.Estimates are that the economy loses R20bn annually to illegal mining.Acting head of the organised crime unit at the Hawks Brig Ebrahim Kadwa said high unemployment rates in the affected communities allowed illegal mining to thrive."Illicit supply of food to underground miners in the Free State increased the number of residential houses procured and solely used for packaging and storage of food parcels destined for miners underground."Information indicates that some community members are...
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