WATCH| Zama Zamas Chant And Laugh Daring Bheki Cele To Deploy ‘Real Police’ Amid Riverlea Outrage

A video of alleged zama zamas drinking alcohol, jubilating and challenging police minister Bheki Cele to deploy “real police” and not “these weak ones” to mining areas has gone viral on social media.

The footage comes after Cele informed residents in Riverlea, Johannesburg, that police would be stationed in the area and that they should hold him accountable if they didn’t see a change.

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The men can be heard shouting in the footage, “Let them send their police. They need to come here. They walk around calling themselves cops and knocking on doors, saying “police, police, police. This is New Canada, they’re too weak.”

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— Mphotjia2 (@Mphotjia21) August 1, 2023

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The bodies of five suspected foreign illegal miners with gunshot wounds were recovered in the area earlier this week.

Officers from the tactical response team and the public order policing unit have been dispatched to monitor Riverlea and the adjoining Zamimpilo informal settlement, according to police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo.

“Preliminary investigation suggests two rival groups of illegal miners were shooting at each in the area and that led to the death of five people,” he said.

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Cele said apart from deploying amaberete, an operational plan will be put in place to “flush” illegal miners from Riverlea.

“We need to go down and find these guys where they are. We need to flush them out of their holes. We need to make sure they realise they cannot come back to interfere with the community here,” he said.

“There are amaberete we are leaving here, but it’s not the end. We’ll reinforce them.”