{"id":60640,"date":"2020-02-03T10:47:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T02:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=60640"},"modified":"2020-02-03T10:47:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T02:47:28","slug":"nine-illegal-miners-from-lesotho-stoned-to-death-by-rivals-in-south-africa-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=60640","title":{"rendered":"Nine illegal miners from Lesotho stoned to death by rivals in South Africa &#8211; Police"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/assets.nst.com.my\/images\/articles\/minersstoned_1580618592.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">Thousands of illegal miners, known as \u201czama-zamas\u201d \u2013 which means \u201cthose who try their luck\u201d in Zulu \u2013 operate in South Africa<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JOHANNESBURG, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Nine illegal miners from Lesotho were \u201cstoned to death\u201d in a Johannesburg suburb by a group of rival miners, police said, denouncing what they called a \u201cbarbaric act\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police are \u201cinvestigating\u201d the murder of nine Lesotho nationals \u201cinvolved in illegal mining activities who were stoned to death in Matholeville by zama zamas (illegal miners) from Lesotho,\u201d a small, poor, landlocked kingdom in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bodies of the nine victims \u201cwere found in the streets of Matholeville, while a tenth person was seriously injured\u201d and taken to hospital, the police said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt seems that violence has broken out between \u201crival groups of illegal miners operating in the area,\u201d police spokesman Mavela Masondo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The South African security forces launched a \u201cmanhunt\u201d and the police were questioning 87 people on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between 8,000 and 30,000 illegal miners locally known as \u201czama zamas\u201d (\u201cthose who try their luck\u201d in Zulu) operate in the country, according to the South African Human Rights Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They take enormous risks digging in disused tunnels and shafts. But they now face another growing danger, that of gangs, who are regularly involved in settling scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIllegal mining and organized crime are intimately linked. The \u201czama zamas\u201d are often heavily armed, have explosives and set up ambushes against \u201cemployees, guards and rival groups of illegal miners,\u201d according to a report by the South African Chamber of Mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By September 2015, at least 20 people had been killed in violence involving gangs of illegal miners in the Johannesburg area, the long world\u2019s gold-producing capital. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of illegal miners, known as \u201czama-zamas\u201d \u2013 which means \u201cthose who try their luck\u201d in Zulu \u2013 operate in South Africa JOHANNESBURG, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Nine illegal miners from Lesotho were \u201cstoned to death\u201d in a Johannesburg suburb by a group of rival miners, police said, denouncing what they called a \u201cbarbaric act\u201d. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60640"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}