The resurfacing of illegal mining in the Carletonville area on the West Rand has prompted a gold-mining company to write an urgent open letter to Gauteng’s provincial commissioner of police, Lieutenant-General E Mawela. The letter follows a growing list of illegal mining-related violence, including last month’s suspected murder by Zama-Zamas of a couple stranded without petrol at an East Rand highway offramp, near Putfontein, and this week’s closure of a road on the West Rand by Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba owing to dangers posed by illegal mining activities in the Roodepoort area.
