Everson Luhanga

This article was first published in July 2023. We are sharing it again because of the current situation in Stilfontein, where miners are suffering underground.

Every day, when the zama zamas enter the deadly tunnels, there is no guarantee they will come out alive.

They risk being killed by a rockfall or a collapsing shaft and they face dangerous underground rivals who are armed to the teeth.

Every day is a desperate dice with death.

As a journalist, I have taken many risks, but I have never known anything like the perilous life of a zama zama.

When I told the zama zamas I’ve been working with that I wanted to go underground, they advised against it.

It is very possible that you could come out of the tunnels with a permanent injury or I might emerge feet first – or I might never come out at all, forever lost in the dark depths of the tunnels.

A young man told me to go away and lose some weight as my body structure would not fit into the narrow and dark tunnels.

I insisted and they let me in at my own risk. 

As I went down with a torch and a rope around my waist, I wondered if I had undertaken a suicide mission. I prayed I would live to get my experience down on paper.

With a group of four zama zamas, I descended into an abandoned mine shaft in Robertsville near Florida west of Johannesburg. 

At about 25 metres I suddenly lost sight of the zama zamas. In the blackest of darkness, I felt terribly alone.

In my panic I had even forgotten the names of the zama zamas who had taken me into the shaft with them. 

I shouted out loud, desperate to know that I was not alone, but all I heard was the echo of my own voice. 

Then I heard laughter and heard them whispering to each other. It was their idea of a joke. I also laughed.

They told me we needed to go deeper. I crawled on my hands and knees but when I banged my head against a rock. I decided to slither on my stomach using my elbows to move forward.

All the while I was praying that I would not meet armed gang members or that a rockfall would close my escape route or even kill me. 

Hours later, the zamas told me we were going to the surface.

The words were magic to my ears. The sight of a glimmer of light in the distance, indicating the end of the journey, was the light of hope. 

All I wanted was to get out alive and not surface in a body bag with my corpse riddled with bullets. 

The moment I got out I rejoiced at the smell of the fresh air racing into my dust-filled lungs. I appreciated the fresh air and sunlight as I had never done before.

While sitting quietly with my underground companions a group of men emerged from the same tunnell. 

They were carrying the body of a young man.

“That could have been me,” I thought.

I found myself crying for the dead man. He was too young to die and in such a manner – all in pursuit of the gold dust that represents a means of providing for their families.

I felt shattered. I had completed a lifetime ambition to experience the deadly underground world of the zama zama. It was an experience that I will be pleased to never try again. As for me, I will stick to my pen and paper.

By Razeen Gutta

Against all the odds, Spain defeated Sweden 2-1 in Auckland. They will play in their first-ever Fifa Women’s World Cup final. 

The uncertain background of the management of the Spanish women’s team under coach Jorge Vilda has been a topic of discussion throughout the tournament. But the players have risen above that. They did the talking where it mattered most — on the pitch. 

The new-look squad gave their all in Tuesday’s last-four clash with Sweden, but at full time there was still work to do. 

Following 80 minutes without any goal-line celebrations, the final ten minutes gave all those at Eden Park something to cheer about. 

In the cagey affair, Spain held on to the ball as much as they could with Sweden creating more opportunities.

The ball found its way into the back of the net and it was first blood to Spain – and it was their very first shot on target. Barcelona’s Salma Paralluelo made it 1-0 to La Roja but then Sweden equalised through Rebecka Blomqvist. 

Seconds before stoppage time Olga Carmona got the winner though, shattering Swedish dreams.

Sweden has now had four semi-final defeats in the competition and will face the loser of Australia and England in the third-place playoff, while the winner will take on Spain in the final on Sunday. 

Pictured above: Salma Paralluelo

Image source: @FIFAWWC

Everson Luhanga

Under police escort, the family of slain zama zama Ntando Nkomo went to the Basotho-dominated shaft to retrieve his body.

But what should have been a dignified and solemn event soon turned into a free-for-all and violent situation in which SAPS officers had to be rescued from enraged zama zamas.

The problem was that the hated and feared SAPS member known as Magolide was one of the police officers who arrived with the mourners.

According to zama zamas, Magolide is a brutal and tyrannical presence around the mines. They accuse him of robbing them of their cash and gold dust. He has also been accused of violently assaulting and torturing local zama zamas.

Joel Mabaso, who was coordinating the police and the mourners, told Scrolla.Africa that the officer was verbally abusive towards him. 

“I approached the officer to ask him for an escort. He told me to get out of his face and I must not touch the cop van,” Mabaso said.

“He told me that the only way the family will get assistance was through him.”

After the body was retrieved the officer came to the scene and that’s when the zama zamas rioted and chased him away while the metro police and the EMS officials watched.

In the next round of events, Scrolla.Africa witnessed Magolide’s police vehicle being pelted with rocks after he tried to pepper spray mourners waiting for the mortuary van to pick up Ntando’s body.

Metro police officers who attended the scene were forced to rescue the SAPS members from the crowd.

By Everson Luhanga

For those who didn’t read Scrolla.Africa’s original series on Sergeant Rosemary Ndlovu, the latest phase of her case – before the Johannesburg High Court sitting at Palm Ridge – has been shocking.

Ndlovu, a cop, was charged with multiple counts of arranging assassinations of loved ones for their insurance payouts. At least 54 witnesses have testified against her. She was arrested after an extraordinary sting operation by her crime-fighting colleagues, who allegedly taped her organising a pre-planned hit on insured relatives. 

But there could be much more. 

There’s a colleague of Rosemary’s at Norkem Park police station who she allegedly advised on her Killsurance tactics – letting her know how to kill her husband for cash.

We broke the story in 2020 in a pilot version of our site. It’s called Killsurance 2 – a three part series, and here it is, below this article, back for those who might have missed it the first time.

It is important to note that these allegations have not been tested in court.

The charges against Rosemary’s colleague Nomsa Mudau have been temporarily withdrawn and Scrolla.Africa understands that the case will be back in court at a later date.  

Mudau was arrested the day she was supposed to be baptised at her church and was locked up while wearing a church uniform  in 2018. She commented when we wrote about her and we returned to her comment on Thursday. 

These comments, and new comments from her husband who she allegedly tried to have killed, are recorded at the bottom of the final article in the three part series below.

Everson Luhanga

Part 6 of 9

The police officer leading the investigation into Sergeant Rosemary Ndlovu quit the case because it shocked him so much.

• The officer, Constable Bheki Zulu, told the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court that Rosemary was “dangerous and evil.”
• He said he felt so sorry for the victims, allegedly killed so Rosemary could get their insurance payouts.
• “I don’t want to see this woman ever again,” Zulu said, while Rosemary sat across from him in court.

Constable Zulu spoke loudly and angrily, pointing his finger at Rosemary’s lawyer, Gibson Ngobeni. “If you had seen the victims’ families,” he said to the lawyer, “you would never defend Rosemary again.”

Zulu then said of himself: “I was traumatised with the nature of the cases and seeing the people she planned to kill was too much for me”.

Rosemary, wearing a floral dress, smiled as she listened to the testimony, occasionally fixing her hair extension with blue-polished nails. In the gallery there were about 20 people, some of them Rosemary’s family members. 

Zulu was part of the team of police officers that trapped Rosemary in the sting which we wrote about in episodes 4 and 5. It was he who arrested Rosemary after she told undercover policemen to kill her sister and her sister’s children.

Zulu said he had been heartbroken when he interviewed Rosemary’s sister Joyce, who Rosemary allegedly planned to murder – along with her five children – in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga. Zulu was particularly shocked at how poor Joyce was – struggling to cope in a small RDP house.

Zulu told the court how later, in Rosemary’s house, he had seen how other family members’ IDs had been sorted together with funeral-policy papers, in what looked like a hit list.

“I visited most of the families and it was very sad to see the pain Rosemary has brought into those families for the sake of money,” Zulu said.

“The ethics of the police states that when you become emotionally attached to the case you are investigating, it is better to hand it over to someone else or else you won’t give the case the justice it deserves.”

So Zulu handed the case to his colleague, Detective Sergeant Keshi Mabunda, who remains the lead cop on this investigation, and helped consolidate all the charges for the High Court.

According to an affidavit by Investigating Officer Mabunda, Rosemary took out at least four insurance policies for her mother totaling R95,000; seven for her sister Joyce totalling at least R25,000 and three for another sister, Nomsanto, for unspecified amounts.

Read: Part 7

Everson Luhanga

Part 5 of 9

Undercover police arrested Rosemary Ndlovu in Bushbuckridge after she took hitmen – and undercover cops – to her sister’s house to kill her and her children.

• After arresting her at the Bushbuckridge taxi rank, police took Rosemary back to her sister’s house.
• Joyce recognises her and, after realising what Rosemary was allegedly planning to do to her and her family, she cries uncontrollably. 
• As the police drive their arrested colleague back to Gauteng, Rosemary is composed and able to talk calmly to the cops.
• They arrived at Rosemary’s house in Tembisa at 5 am on 8 March 2018, where they found her boyfriend asleep in bed.
• Rosemary is taken to the Tembisa Police Station, Rabasotho section, where she is locked up. 
• She failed to get bail several times, and her case was eventually transferred to the High Court.

Read: Part 6

By Everson Luhanga and Zukile Majova

At least 10 members of the same family were killed in one incident in Mbali Township outside Pietermaritzburg. 

Police say a total of 19 people were killed in separate incidents in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday

On Friday, Police Minister General Bheki Cele visited the crime scene which falls under Plessislaer Police Station.

The police station is notorious for recording some of the highest incidents of crime with over 20 killings in this precinct killed every month, according to SAPS crime stats.

Violent house-breaking incidents have also increased in the area with at least 120 incidents reported in a single quarter.

The community of Mbali Township is now demanding another police station with increased police visibility and regular patrols in the township.

The community is still reeling after gunfire was heard on Thursday night and on Friday morning. They woke up to the news that heavily armed gunmen ambushed a family and killed eight women and two children.

The Memela family buried the father and head of the family last year.

Police spokesperson Jay Naicker said the motive behind this barbaric act of criminality is still unknown.

Minister Cele will be joined by top management of the South African Police Service (SAPS) led by National Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola

According to initial police reports, two unknown gunmen stormed a Pietermaritzburg homestead and ambushed the family, seven women and three men were fatally wounded during the shooting. 

Meanwhile, in the Durban area, police responded to more incidents of gun violence including a scene where four people were killed in KwaMashu, another incident related to ongoing taxi wars in the area while a Grade 8 learner was shot dead in the street after school at Ntshawini area towards Stanger.

Thursday began with the killing of the chairperson of a taxi association from Seaview who was attacked on the M7 highway in Durban.

A crime scene in Mbali Township is KwaZulu-Natal where 10 people were shot and killed

Pictured above: Police cars

Image credit: Lirandzu Themba / SAPS

By Everson Luhanga

A 50-year-old male TV and stage actor is under police guard in Tembisa hospital after allegedly shooting and killing his 29-year-old boyfriend. 

The suspect – reported to have acted in 7 De Laan – was admitted to hospital under police guard, after allegedly trying to kill himself with an overdose.

The identity of the suspect cannot be revealed as he is yet to be charged, and it has been incorrectly reported that the deceased is a woman. 

The suspect’s name, known to Scrolla.Africa, does not appear on 7 De Laan’s list of actors, and 7 De Laan released a statement on Friday saying the suspect was not part of the current cast.

Norkem Park police spokesperson Warrant Officer Barbara-Anne Ferreira confirmed to Scrolla.Africa that the suspect was arrested for murder and possession of a firearm by SAPS at Norkem Park.

She said the police were alerted by MML, a private security company. “On arrival, the police found a body believed to be his partner inside a cottage. The suspect was still on the scene and found in possession of a Beretta firearm,” she said.

Ferreira said the motive for the murder is unknown at the moment and forms part of a police investigation.

The suspect was arrested and taken to the hospital after allegedly taking an overdose of tablets. He will be charged with murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. 

The suspect is expected to be taken to the Kempton Park Police Station once he is discharged from the hospital.

Pictured above: Handcuffs on a suspect’s hands

Image source: Pixabay

By Zukile Majova
Political Editor

Black delegates at the DA’s national elective congress have lost an opportunity to introduce the position of deputy federal leader in the party.

This was an important constitutional amendment which was being brought to congress for the third time.

When the motion failed after over 2,000 votes were counted, the group that had voted for the motion could not believe the close results: 850 for the motion and 879 against.

Voting for this motion has never been this close as previous attempts were rejected outright.

Former Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga was caught on camera saying there should be a recount.

“There are a number of provinces that do have deputy provincial leaders. For a party that is growing, a party that is going to be in government, I think there is a need to provide capacity that will assist the party but also what we are trying to do in government.

“So I think having a deputy leader is also that additional capacity… and also it is important that we start looking at that so that we are able to start building succession because what we have in the DA, we have leader that comes and he has to start over from scratch,” Msimanga explained to the media.

The motion was designed to propel former Johannesburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse into the higher echelons of the party and present her as a potential future leader of the party.

It is anticipated that current leader John Steenhuisen won’t be re-elected by the congress.

This is another lost opportunity in the DA which currently has a white leadership as it prepares for the national general elections in 2024.

The campaign will be led by Steenhuisen and re-elected Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille.

Also leading from the front will be Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Retief Odendaal, Umngeni Local Municipality Mayor Chris Pappas and newly elected Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink.

These are the trusted leaders driving service delivery in DA-controlled councils and are all white.

Black DA leaders who will also lead election campaigns include DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube, Phalatse, Msimanga, former NMB mayor Nqaba Bhanga in the Eastern Cape and Jane Sithole, the DA leader in Mpumalanga.

Steenhuisen said the party was preparing for its biggest test in 2024, to bring the ANC majority below 50%.

“We are now on track for a record result in 2024 where we must bring the ANC below 50% and rescue South Africa. This is our mission.

“The DA must and will play a role in constructing a post-ANC South Africa and we translate our vision of an open opportunity society for all into a realistic plan that all South Africans can resonate with,” said Steenhuisen.

Picture above: Feeling defeated: black delegates lose important motion in DA congress

Image source: Supplied

By Zukile Majova

President Cyril Ramaphosa will be visiting the tourist destination of Port St Johns on Tuesday afternoon to see first hand the extent of the flood damage.

Port St Johns looks like a disaster zone this week after it was battered by heavy rains.

The poor drainage system saw the town flooded within hours, causing chaos and panic. At least three people have died while another is missing.

The flooding was so quick that motorists had no time to move their cars and abandoned them in the streets as the water rose almost waist deep in some areas.

People’s homes collapsed as the mud foundations could no longer hold.

Hundreds of people have been left homeless in the town and many more in the broader OR Tambo District Municipality which covers Mthatha and other holiday hotspots like Coffee Bay and Hole-in-the-Wall.

Scrolla.Africa reported the devastation on Monday.

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane was in the district on Monday and saw that part of the new N2 which connects the economic development zones of East London and Port Elizabeth to Durban, had been damaged.

“The municipality has been affected by torrential rainfall over the past week, which caused flooding resulting in loss of life, displacement of communities and damage to infrastructure,” the presidency said.

“Severe weather for which the South African Weather Service had issued warnings on 22 and 23 March affected communities in Port St Johns, Ingquza Hill, Nyandeni and King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipalities.”

The floods disrupted critical infrastructure and services to water and electricity supply services, teaching and learning institutions, as well as roads and bridges that collapsed.

Ramaphosa will be accompanied by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Thembi Nkadimeng and Mabuyane.

Homeless families are currently sheltered at the Port St Johns Youth Centre.

Pictured above: Cyril Ramaphosa