Police in Mpumalanga have arrested more than 200 people for trespassing, possession of stolen goods and contravention of the Illegal Immigration Act. The arrests follow the vandalising and theft of equipment, reportedly amounting to millions of rands at the disused Goedehoop Mine in Blinkpan near Middelburg.
The nearby Blinkpan community has been without electricity for more than two weeks. The Eskom substation at the mine has been vandalised and cables were stolen. The mine has not been operational since 2019.
The power cut has affected businesses in the area. Amanda Mdodane runs a poultry farm.
She needs electricity to keep her chicks warm and she says she uses more money to provide alternative heat for the chicks.
“On Friday when this thing happened, I had received a batch of chicks as many people would know these chicken need heat, especially in the first 21 days. It is very critical for them to have heat and light, to say I was not prepared is an understatement, I didn’t expect to spend a lot on gas.”
Amanda Swanepoel runs a community feeding scheme in the area.
She feeds about 90 people daily.
“It costs us plenty of money to run the generator just to keep the community going, we have been battling to prepare the food for people to eat without electricity, it is bad, genuinely bad.”
Most of the arrested suspects are illegal immigrants. Police spokesperson, Leonard Hlathi says police maintain a presence at the mine.
He has urged community members to report any suspicious movement at the mine.
“We have done our best, we are busy with an operation. We have arrested more than 200 people and we have seized more than 80 cars, some of them are still loaded with items stolen from this area.”
Hlathi adds that some of the suspects have been released on R1 000 bail.
