In the attack, the gunmen allegedly injured a police officer and damaged a police van’s windscreen as officers were responding to a crime scene at a well-known food retailer. Police spokesperson, Aefje Botma, says the suspects fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash and no arrests have yet been made. 

She says no members of the community were injured during this shootout. Botma further says the police are investigating a case of business robbery and attempted murder after a police was shot in his right hand.
 
She added forensic analysts were at the scene assessing it for possible clues that could lead to arrests of the suspects. This shooting in Kanana comes a few days after another shootout took place between a security guard - who was injured - and illegal miners in that area.

The police in Matlosana, which includes Klerksdorp, have been battling with violence, ostensibly at the hands of illegal miners - or zama zamas. OFM News earlier reported that two police officers got injured in a shootout with zama zamas on the morning of 15 November 2018 at the Shivas Uranium and Gold Mine closed shaft, where police were on site to fight illicit mining in the area with a multi-disciplinary operation. Police spokesperson, Sabata Mokgwabone, at the time said police spotted about eight illegal miners, which led to a confrontation between the two parties, leaving two police officers injured in the process.

In 2015, 14 illegal mining suspects were arrested in three separate incidents following turf war killings in Khuma near Stilfontein outside Klerksdorp.

OFM News