One resident, whose property is a few metres away from the illegal mining site, and who asked not to be named out of fear for his life, said he watches people digging in the ground looking for gold every day.
There are escalating fears that the illegal digging could undermine the infrastructure and nearby people’s properties and cause the road to collapse.
The perpetrators are believed to be from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
The Advertiser visited the site on Wednesday morning (February 1) and found hundreds of illegal miners digging holes on the property, searching for gold.
The miners appeared to be brazenly unafraid of passing SAPS patrol vans and the contingent of EMPD police officers, who were on Wednesday conducting a roadblock next to the illegal mining site.
According to Boksburg SAPS spokesperson Sgt Cebisa Maseko, the Boksburg police conduct operations targeting illegal miners time after time.
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However, their efforts are seemingly not bearing fruit, because the illegal miners run away during the operation, only to return once the police have left the area.
“In one of our operations targeting illegal miners in the area, which was held on January 25, we managed to arrest 25 BaSotho illegal miners.
“Two more illegal miners were arrested while walking along Main Reef Road carrying a load of soil possibly containing gold dust,” said Maseko.
Maseko added that the police have come to realise that the illegal mining problem can only be contained if all the relevant stakeholders, including the police, the Department of Mineral Resources, the municipality, mines and the private owners of the land work together to address the problem.
A police source, who holds a senior position at the Boksburg SAPS, said the problem of illegal mining is widespread across the city and province and very difficult to police or contain.
“Some illegal miners are operating on land belonging to private owners who are not very forthcoming.
“Some have last year promised to dig out the topsoil containing gold dust and replace it with one that does not have gold dust, but that hasn’t happened,” said the officer.
Another source previously said that the miners in question are in some cases armed and that they sometimes wage turf wars among themselves.
Illegal mining by zamazamas, as they are commonly known, has been a problem for the country for the past couple of years.
