Police told eNCA at least 20 people have been arrested on Thursday. The community of Kagiso in the West Rand says it feels let down by the South African Police Service. 

Locals earlier torched shacks believed to belong to the illegal miners, most of whom are foreign nationals. They say the illegal miners have been committing crimes in the area, including rape and murder. A large police contingent is continuing to monitor the protest and they have fired teargas to disperse locals.

The community is adamant at this stage, they’re not going to retreat, and instead they want the police to move away. They say they want the police to do their job. There is quite a heightened police presence in the area. There’s a chopper that continues to hover over the particular area, where there’s quite a number of these holes that have been opened up for this illegal activity.

Krugersdorp – Kagiso residents demand police leave so Mogale City shutdown can continue.

Residents have demolished some structures used by illegal miners at a house in extension eight, west of Johannesburg. Residents have taken to the streets in protest following last week’s gang rape of eight women in Krugersdorp allegedly by these illegal miners. Angry Kagiso residents say they are fed up and want all the illegal miners out of the township. 

The owner of the house, who prefers to remain anonymous, says the illegal miners have been renting in her yard for about four years. She says she has been asking them to leave since last year but they have been refusing.

She says she was not aware that what they have been doing was illegal. But only became concerned when she started seeing police coming to get bribes.

She says the illegal miners paid her R6 000 per month which has helped her put food on the table as she is unemployed and could not afford to take care of her family.

SABC News