During Operation O Kae Molao on Thursday, 30 January 2020, police seized equipment that is used by Zama-Zamas in Matholeville, Roodepoort. Picture supplied. (Image for illustrative purpose).
Nine illegal miners from Lesotho were stoned to death by suspected rival workers in a western district of Johannesburg, South African police said on Saturday, denouncing the “barbaric act”.
Officers launched a manhunt and said they had questioned dozens of people in connection with the incident.
“The bodies of the nine Lesotho nationals who are zama-zamas (illegal miners), were found lying in the streets of Matholeville while the tenth person was seriously injured” in the violence on Friday, the police said in a statement.
Thousands of illegal miners, known as “zama zamas – which means “those who try their luck” in Zulu – operate in the country, according to the South African Human Rights Commission.
Violent clashes between rival groups of workers are relatively common.
South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world, more than 21,000 people were killed between April 2018 and March 2019, an average of 58 murders a day, according to government data.
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