Zama zamas butcher beloved family dog in Sabie

Warning: Content not for sensitive readers.

Luna, a beloved family Rottweiler, was butchered by zama zamas in Sabie just over a week ago.

This after Luna is understood to have jumped over Jacques and Stephanie van Rensburg’s perimeter wall sometime before September 4, while they were away on an extended business trip. His pet sitter apparently only later noticed Luna had escaped from the property.

He inevitably wandered into zama zama territory on the land behind the family home where he was captured and tied up with an electric cable.

According to the Mpumalanga Animal Cruelty Watch’s Jaco Klopper, who with the help of his dog, Jessie, retrieved Luna’s remains on September 10, the Rottweiler had not been impressed with his new abode and acted out.

Klopper said the miners ganged up on Luna after he had tried to bite one of them. What followed was nothing short of horrifying.

Using mining tools such as hammers and spades, the miners relentlessly beat and hacked at Luna before dumping his limp body in a mining hole and covering it with sand.

“My heart is still shattered. It was a terrible retrieval,” said Klopper, who, before making this grisly discovery, was still hopeful Luna might be found alive.

Klopper made the discovery with the help of an illegal miner who, after being relentlessly pursued, briefed him on what had happened and pointed him towards Luna’s final resting place.

Klopper said he could smell something as he approached the makeshift grave and then he saw an ear sticking out of the sand. Gently tugging at the ear, Klopper realised it could be Luna. With every lump of sand Klopper brushed away, the grim reality of Luna’s fate became clearer.

Speaking to Lowvelder, Jacques said their three-year-old daughter kept asking for Luna. “I don’t think we will ever heal from the loss of Luna. He was the friendliest, loving boy. He was a child in our family,” he said.

Having moved to Sabie from Harbour Town Vaal Marina on the Gauteng side of the Vaal Dam just six months ago, Jacques said the zama zamas made him and his family feel unsafe in their home and they were ready to leave.

He said it was only with Luna’s disappearance that he, with the help of a friend and his drone, discovered the illegal mining activities as little as 12m from his back perimeter wall.

He said he and his wife had been hearing the miners at night, but assumed the sound was coming from York Timbers.

It was only when the Van Rensburgs returned home on September 4 and subsequently started searching for Luna, that they discovered the porous earth behind their property.

Justice and purpose for Luna

The police raided the illegal mining site on September 12. According to a Sabie CPF press release, an undisclosed number of illegal miners were arrested and a cache of equipment was seized.

Items including explosives and ammunition, gold-bearing material, generators and electric motors, a 20kg gas cylinder and a variety of tools such as phendukas, pangas, hammers, welding rods and spades were confiscated.

Jacques said he hopes the police action taken on the zama zamas following Luna’s death would not only bring justice for Luna, but also help his death stand for something bigger.

A silver lining appeared around the dark clouds that gathered with Luna’s ordeal when the Van Rensburgs’ Rottweiler bitch gave birth to a litter of puppies shortly before Luna’s remains were found.