Gauteng government aims to address illegal mining

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The Gauteng government says it is looking into several options aimed at addressing illegal mining in the province.

This follows the deadly gas leak incident in which killed 17 people died in the Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Eleven others were hospitalised.

The incident is linked to unlawful mining activities in the area.

The Chairperson of the Gauteng Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety, Bandile Masuku has reiterated the province’s call for a specialised unit to deal with illegal mining in the province.

“Illegal miners themselves are actually fully and highly armed and our police are actually ill-equipped to deal with them. So, we need a specialised unit which can deal with it and if it has to include some members of the SA National Defence Force, I think so be it. But, we need to have a permanent solution in dealing with the issue,” adds Masuku.

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Meanwhile, bereaved Boksburg families are receiving trauma counselling at the Angelo informal settlement.

Ekurhuleni MMC of Community Services, Bridget Thusi says the deceased are from Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

She says her department is considering engaging the victims’ respective embassies for burial plans.

“The mood is very sombre. They don’t know what to do because I mean, it’s a huge number. One lost six family members and the other one, it’s four. So, they’re making arrangements in terms of  taking them to their countries of origin and which is in this case, Mozambique and Zimbabwe,” says Thusi.

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