SA police hunt for Johannesburg Basotho killers
NDUMISO MLILO
JOHANNESBURG – The South African police have launched a manhunt for the suspects who shot and killed two Lesotho nationals and injured eight last Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa. The deceased were shot at an open veld in Johannesburg’s Florida area next to an old mine, and police said they have mobilised maximum resources to trace the three suspects.
“It is alleged that three armed suspects wearing balaclavas were waiting in an open veld in the Florida policing precinct, next to an old mine. A group of eight Basotho who had alighted a taxi to the old mine shaft met three other countrymen who pointed them with firearms, robbed them of cash and cell phones and then shot all eight zama-zamas (illegal miners),” said South African Police Service (SAPS) Gauteng provincial spokesperson Captain (Capt) Kay Makhubele.
The police stated that two died on the spot while the other six were taken to the hospital; and Capt Makhubela appealed to the public with information to help them arrest the suspects. Gauteng SAPS Commissioner of Police, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela condemned the shooting and vowed to track down the culprits. On Sunday Makhubela told Public Eye that investigations were continuing, further indicating that “investigators must also work around the clock to ensure that the suspects are found and arrested.”
In January this year, nine Lesotho nationals who are illegal miners were stoned to death by other suspected illegal miners near Roodepoort in Johannesburg, in an incident that has become a common occurrence in Johannesburg and the Free State where illegal miners kill each other for the control of abandoned mining sites.