Mpumalanga is not on the five-province list for the current Operation Prosper joint military/police crime crackdown but this does not deter police there from seeking out and stopping illegal mining and associated activities.
The SA Police Service (SAPS) reports an intelligence driven operation in Barberton, 43 km from provincial capital Mbombela, saw a raid mounted on 23 April leading to closure of an illegal gold processing facility. The raid followed raw intelligence received and analysed by the SAPS Crime Intelligence Unit that illegal mining activities were “happening” at a Barberton house.
The raid brought to light chemicals and other equipment used to process gold as well as quantities of what is described as “gold-bearing material” – probably gold ore. A pair of unlicensed firearms was confiscated and two suspects arrested in connection with charges for contravening the Precious Metals Act. The house, police said, was used to illegally process the precious metal by way of smelting and refining it.
Acting Mpumalanga Provincial SAPS Commissioner, Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi, commended the officers involved in what he is reported as saying was “a breakthrough”. This is in view of national SAPS operations targeting “the value chain of illegal mining”.
“It is crucial that we dismantle illegal mining infrastructure while we arrest illegal miners. We believe the discovery and dismantling of this illegal gold processing ‘lab’ is a major blow to organised crime in our province,” the SAPS two-star is on record as saying.
Elements of SA Army regular and Reserve Force units are presently deployed in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces as well as Free State, Gauteng and North West supporting police efforts to curb gangsterism and illegal mining. The deployment, announced and authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his mid-February SONA (State of the Nation Address) moved into operational mode at the beginning of April following planning and preparation including joint mission readiness training (JMRT).
The South African military, in the form of Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha’s SA Army, activated 2 200 uniformed men and women from three infantry formation units – 2 SAI (Zeerust, North West), 6 SAI (Makhanda, Eastern Cape) and 8 SAI (Upington, Northern Cape) along with Tempe, Free State-based 1 Special Services Battalion (SSB). The Solomon Mahlangu and Tshwane regiments in Gauteng make up the Reserve Force component of the deployment which is scheduled to end on 31 March next year.
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