Primrose residents plead for army help as zama zama shootouts worsen - TimesLIVE

Residents in Primrose, Germiston, say they are living in fear because of almost daily shootouts between rival groups of illegal miners working the old gold shafts and want the army to step in.

The centre of the ongoing conflict is the area surrounding the Simmer and Jack landfill site, but bullets have struck homes and cars in nearby blocks as shooters pursue their targets.

Primrose Ratepayers Association chairperson David-Hutch Barr said the latest shootout took place on Sunday night and only began to die down at about 11pm.

“I live around 300m away from the zama zama area and I need to make sure my family are all in one room when the shooting starts,” said Barr. “We have slept on the floor some nights.”

The community is asking for “a visible, co-ordinated and sustained law enforcement response”, he said.

“We need help. I don’t know why they are not putting more resources into this problem. It’s getting worse.”

Barr said the association had been raising its concerns with the authorities over a sustained period, and a SAPS representative had contacted him. However, he said there had been no indication that extra police resources or the SANDF would be sent to Primrose.

Another resident, Janet Gerretsen, said the most recent night of heavy gunfire lasted about 45 minutes. She said she could hear AK-47s and R1 rifles.

She has recordings, which TimesLIVE has heard.

Gerretsen said the shooting has gone on for about four years.

“People have had bullets through their cars, through their windows, through their carports,” she said. “People can’t be in their houses because the bullets go through the roofs.” She said a highway had recently been temporarily closed because of gunfire.

A car windscreen was damaged by a bullet during a zama zama shootout in Primrose, Germiston. Picture: Supplied Gerretsen said several residents had asked for the army to be deployed to restore safety. “We are scared. Why must we live like this?”

Resident and community patroller Juan Joubert said, “The problem has been going on for the longest time but has got much worse”.

He said gunfire was now heard almost daily from about 5pm into the evening.

“These are not simply isolated gunshots. Parents are worried about their children’s safety, residents are afraid to move around their neighbourhoods, and people are having to consider their personal safety simply when travelling home from work or going about their daily lives.”

The community cannot defend itself, Joubert said.

“We are ordinary residents and volunteers. We cannot be expected to deal with armed criminal groups or put our lives at risk in situations that require properly equipped and co-ordinated law enforcement intervention,” he said.

Chairperson of the Primrose community policing forum (CPF), Tracy Enslin, said the fighting was a turf war between hundreds of illegal miners over shafts at the old Simmer and Jack mine. She said the battles could rage for up to five hours, with gunfire moving across the dump, and over the N3 freeway into Lower Main Reef Road.

“It is common to hear upwards of 300 rounds fired within a single 10-minute window,” she said.

She said two schools are close to the area where the shootings occur.

Enslin said the CPF’s volunteers patrol and pass on reports, but were “not trained, equipped, or permitted to engage in military-style warfare against heavily armed, organised crime syndicates deploying snipers”.

She said the area fell under three police stations, Primrose, Germiston and Cleveland, which created gaps in the law enforcement response.

“SAPS’ response is often severely delayed or occurs only hours after the firing has ceased and the damage is done.”

Enslin said underground mining and blasting had caused a sinkhole in Johan Rissik Street, and two sinkholes in Simmerfield and Wychwood had cracked nearby walls and swimming pools, damage for which insurers were refusing to compensate.

In one of the latest operations, SAPS spokesperson Lt-Col Isaac Mudau said Germiston crime prevention officers responded to a shooting complaint at the dumping site on the corner of Johan Rissik Street and Main Reef Road in Germiston on Wednesday, November 4.

He said the illegal miners started shooting at the officers when they arrived.

Mudau said the tactical response team was called in as back-up and returned fire after the zama zamas began shooting. He said no injuries were reported in that incident and no suspect had been arrested. Police investigations continue.