Primrose residents call for army after shootings between illegal miners
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on TimesLIVE
In Primrose, near Germiston, residents live in fear of almost daily shootings between rival groups of illegal miners, with bullets having hit houses and cars. The Primrose Ratepayers Association calls for a coordinated and sustained police response, according to TimesLIVE.
Residents of Primrose, a district of Germiston on the outskirts of Johannesburg, are calling for the army to intervene after almost daily shootings between rival groups of illegal gold miners, known as “zama zamas”, who work the old gold mine tunnels. According to David-Hutch Barr, chairman of the Primrose Ratepayers Association, the latest shooting took place on Sunday evening and only subsided around 11pm.
Bullets have hit houses and cars in neighbouring buildings. Barr lives about 300 metres from the area and says he has to gather his family in a single room as soon as the shooting starts; on some nights, they have slept on the floor. The association is demanding “a visible, coordinated and sustained police response”. A representative of the SAPS, the South African Police Service, has contacted him, but Barr says no police reinforcements or deployment of the army (SANDF) have been announced for Primrose.
Resident Janet Gerretsen says the shooting has been going on for about four years and that a motorway has already been temporarily closed because of gunfire. She says she heard AK-47s and R1 rifles during the last night of shooting, which lasted about 45 minutes, and that bullets went through cars, windows and roofs. Community patroller Juan Joubert says gunshots ring out almost every day from 5pm, and that parents are worried about their children’s safety.
