Local News
Operations against zama-zamas now rolled out to other provinces─── CATHY DLODLO 06:14 Wed, 26 Oct 2016
Kimberley - Several joint operations by law enforcement agencies to curb illegal diamond mining and smuggling in the Northern Cape were so successful that the National Department of Mineral Resources now wants to roll it out to other provinces.
This is according to the department’s 2015/16 annual report. The report states that the illegal diamond trade was dealt a series of blows, and the operations of zama-zamas in the Free State, Limpopo, and Gauteng are their next targets.
In April this year alone six bodies of zama-zamas were recovered from old mine shafts in Welkom in the Free State. One of the bodies was badly decomposed. They were each found with a piece of paper that contained their names, surnames and telephone numbers of their next of kin.
According to the report, the operations in the Northern Cape were aimed at leaving illegally mined diamonds without buyers or markets. It also raised challenges with the compliance levels in health, safety and accurate recording of diamonds in the mining industry.
The department hopes to conduct monthly inspections to check compliance levels during these joint operations.
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