The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has welcomed the arrest of two suspects for robbery at Delmas.
In the first incident two suspects, aged 27 and 28 years old were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday, 30 March 2022. It is said that three security guards were on duty at the main gate of Thaba Chweu Mine in Delmas, when they saw two vehicles with Gauteng registration number plates, a single cab Nissan LDV as well as a Nissan double cab LDV coming from the mine and the cars were then stopped by the guards.
Three armed suspects then reportedly got out of the vehicles, and pointed at the guards. The suspects are said to have tied the hands of their victims with cables whereby a guard as well as the supervisor were assaulted with a firearm after failing to comply to their demands.
Other guards from a different section of the mine became suspicious and then alerted police. Police at Delmas responded and upon their arrival, two suspects who are originally from Zimbabwe were cornered meanwhile other suspects fled the scene to evade the arrest. The members also recovered diesel pumps and connectors in the vehicles, about 1 000 litres of diesel which belongs to the mine.
The two suspects were arrested and charged for business robbery. The suspects were found not in possession of passports hence police are working with the department of Home Affairs to ascertain their status in the country.
More charges with regard to contravention of the Immigration Act may be added to the suspects.
The suspects are expected to appear before the Delmas Magistrate’s Court on 1 April 2022 facing the said charges.
