The story of the gang rapes of  10 women, by zama-zamas, at a disused mine in Krugersdorp is gut-wrenching. Though it has been weeks since the story broke, I find myself thinking about it on a daily basis. It haunts me. The helplessness that those women endured,  at the hands of balaclava-clad men brandishing weapons, is unthinkable.

The thought of 20 men taking turns on each of those women is paralysing. And while for so many of us, it is this abstract idea of gang rape that traumatises us, for those women, it is the visceral reality that will be with them for the rest of their lives. I remember a line from a Jodi Picoult book I read when I was younger, which said that rape is worse than murder, because with murder you only die once, while with rape, you die every day but are forced to go on with the motions of being alive.

Days after the story broke, the ANC staged a march against illegal mining and zama zamas. On the surface, this was a progressive protest against illegal mining, which is not just a national issue but an issue of international concern. The United Nations has long noted that illegal mining and trafficking precious minerals is a global calamity that sets parameters for violence, war and economic decline. The organisation has also often argued that illegal mining undermines the rule of law and the development of affected nations.

We have seen in countries where illegal mining and mineral trafficking happen that these are breeding grounds for economic crimes such as corruption, tax evasion and fraud. Additionally, they are a festering ground for gross human rights abuses, as we see in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and in Zimbabwe. The discovery of diamonds in Chiadzwa, a district in the Mutare province of Zimbabwe, led to atrocious human rights violations by the government, including the killings of illegal miners by government forces. There can be no doubt that illegal mining is a serious problem that needs urgent intervention.

The problem comes when a serious issue such as this one is used for opportunistic posturing. For starters, the issue of zama zamas is not new. The ANC as an organisation and a governing party has long known about the effects of illegal mining, not only on the economy but on the safety of communities. As recently as 2018, violence erupted in the City of Ekurhuleni metro in Gauteng, between rival zama zama gangs.

This has been a common occurrence across the country and the government has done nothing about the situation despite communities constantly raising the alarm. Today, when there's a headline about women being gang raped, those in power feign shock. But perhaps worse than this is that the gang rape has set parameters for another opportunistic narrative – one that seeks to suggest that illegal miners, who are largely illegal immigrants, are the cause of crime in our communities.

It is true that illegal immigrants do commit crime, especially in areas where they operate as zama zamas. But the narrative that is finding expression now seeks to conflate subjective issues with an overall argument that illegal immigrants are criminals and are the perpetrators of rape in particular.

This narrative must never be accepted, because rape in particular is a crime synonymous with locals. Statistics are the evidence. About 80% of women are raped by men known to them – usually family members, intimate partners or neighbours. Rarely are we raped by strangers. So, in our calls for illegal miners to be held accountable, we must be careful that we are not venturing into xenophobic sentiments.