Dozens of zama-zamas – illegal miners from other countries – now being held in crime crackdown following music video shoot attack
Dozens of men detained after the alleged gang-rape of eight women on a music video shoot in South Africa are expected back in court on Wednesday as police made more arrests of artisanal miners blamed by local people for widespread violence.
The arrests on Tuesday near Krugersdorp, a city north-west of Johannesburg, bring the total number of people detained since the attack to more than 120.
None of the men and boys arrested, however, has reportedly been charged with sexual assault or rape. Police have said they hope DNA tests will enable them in coming days to connect some of those detained with the alleged gang-rape.
The men expected in court on Wednesday, who are understood to be miners working in South Africa’s dangerous abandoned shafts, reportedly face charges including possession of firearms and illegal mining.
The attack took place at an abandoned mine in Krugersdorp where the video crew of 22 people, including 12 women, were filming when they were attacked “by a group of armed men clad in blankets”, according to a police statement to the Associated Press.
“The suspects ordered everyone to lay down and proceeded to rape eight of the women and robbed everyone of their belongings before fleeing the scene,” said the police commissioner for Gauteng province, Lt Gen Elias Mawela. Police were investigating 32 counts of rape, he added.