Giyani – In a swift intelligence-driven raid, a joint team of Giyani police, the Illegal Mining Task Team, Tactical Response Team (TRT), and Mopani Tracing Team arrested eight suspects for illegal mining.
During the raid in Mavalani village on Friday, 8 May 2026, law enforcers also seized unlicensed firearms, ammunition, one bakkie, and illegal mining equipment.
The operation targeted identified locations linked to illegal mining activities in the area.
Narrating events leading to the arrests, police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said the team hit three separate locations in the same village linked to unlawful mining activities.
At the first site, police arrested three South African men aged between 23 and 54.
Police seized two unlicensed firearms with ammunition and impounded a grey Isuzu double-cab bakkie believed to have been used for transporting unwrought precious minerals.
Abandoned mining tools were also recovered, including 17 four-pound hammers, chisels, a crowbar, a three-pound hammer, pliers, headlights, and three clay-made stones suspected to be linked to mineral processing.
The operation continued at a second site in the village, where three foreign male nationals, also aged 23 to 54, were arrested for illegal mining and contraventions of the Immigration Act.
Items confiscated there included three pendukas, a wheelbarrow, two silver motors, drums, spades, six 40-litre basins, bags, buckets, R1 950 in cash, and two cellphones.
At the third location, two women aged 35 and 37 were apprehended inside a one-roomed house for allegedly processing unwrought suspected precious metals.
Officers recovered a two-pound hammer and a bag containing the suspected minerals.
All eight suspects are expected to appear in the Giyani Magistrate’s Court soon on charges including illegal mining, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, and immigration violations.
Limpopo Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe said the bust highlights growing pressure on illegal mining networks in Limpopo, where unregulated operations frequently involve dangerous tools, undocumented workers, and links to firearm-related crime.
