One dead, another narrowly escapes as West Rand residents descend on illegal miners
Image: Screengrab/Suppled
At least one person has died after a day of protest action on the West Rand, where the community is on a mission to rid the area of illegal miners.
Col Noxolo Kweza said a man's body was found dumped in a field in Chamdor, near Krugersdorp.
It was not immediately clear whether he was an illegal miner.
"The police have dispatched the necessary crime-management team to the scene," said Kweza.
She did not reveal how the man had died, saying it was part of the investigation.
"Police are monitoring protests [in the Kagiso area]," said Kweza, adding a call for community members to restore calm to the township had been issued.
As protests continued, a suspected illegal miner narrowly escaped the community's clutches.
"When the community members arrived at shacks at Tudo shaft (in Soul City), where zama-zamas live, they started to damage their homes," said ward councillor Peter Modise.
“They found two alleged zama-zamas and one fled the scene, but the other couldn’t outrun the community. They got him and attacked him," Modise said.
Image: Screengrab
The man was rescued from the mob and taken by the police.
Modise said the man claimed he wasn’t an illegal miner by choice but because of a lack of opportunities.
Meanwhile, illegal miners, allegedly from Mozambique, were stripped naked by residents. TimesLIVE understands they were found after residents searched a disused mine.
The group was allegedly assaulted.
TimesLIVE