President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government’s fight against illegal mining is yielding positive results.
In his weekly letter to the nation on Monday morning, Ramaphosa highlights the issue, stating that police have apprehended 4 000 suspects for illegal mining-related crimes since last year.
Additionally, within the first four months of this year alone, over 7 000 suspects involved in illegal mining were arrested for violating immigration regulations.
The government has vowed to step up the fight against illegal mining, and the President has authorised the deployment of more than 3 000 soldiers for six months to help police with operations, which Police Minister Bheki Cele says will help deal with the heavily armed illegal miners.
Ramaphosa says there are over 6 000 abandoned mines in South Africa.
He has congratulated the police for their successes in dealing with these crimes.
The fight against illegal mining is seeing results. Last week, the Ministers in government’s Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster reported on significant progress in curbing this criminal activity and arresting those responsible. https://t.co/lw0zwhNe1L pic.twitter.com/EvqTAfCfsm
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) November 13, 2023
