National Police Commissioner, Khehla Sitole, says they are intending to establish a new unit that will curb the ongoing illegal mining activities in abandoned mines.
He says the new unit will work together with the Department of Mineral Resources.
Sitole says they are currently utilising high-risk forces, which include task force, the National Intervention Unit (NIU) as well as Tactical Response Teams (TRT) in mining hotspot areas.
“We got various interventions where we have deployed our high-risk forces, the NIU as well as TRT in those mining hotspot areas. So stabilising that crime because that is a high density policing approach we have adopted, but going further to normalise the situation we will be working with that department which will include that particular unit,” says Sitole.
