Thieves pillage 35 tons of pure gold, at a value of nearly R2-billion from South African mines, every year – and arrest rates are steadily declining.
The scale of the theft was highlighted this week when police seized more than half a ton of gold dust during a raid on a mineworkers’ hostel in Thabong, Welkom, in the Free State. Four men were arrested.
This was the seventh raid on ‘G’ hostel this year. A similar amount of gold dust has been recovered by
police on each occasion.
According to a study by Peter Gastrow, director of the Institute of Security Studies in Cape Town, the total working profit for South Africa’s gold mines in 1998 would have been 33,3% higher had there been watertight security, while the government would have been 13,4% richer through tax receipts from gold mines.
The study, commissioned by the Chamber of Mines, also found that individual thieves are able to
smuggle and smelt ever-increasing amounts of gold.
The situation has reached something of a crisis point. Gastrow’s report notes that arrest rates have steadily declined since 1995 and police departments devoted to tackling gold and diamond crime are seriously under-funded.
Police recovery rates stand at about R7-million to R9-million of the R1,9-billion stolen annually.
Thabong’s ‘G’ hostel is one of South Africa’s most notorious gold-smuggling centres. Raids by the
police during 1998 netted more than 10 tons of gold-bearing material and large quantities of smelting equipment.
A record book seized by police indicated that one illegal seller had sold an average of 2 882g of gold a day, amounting to a ton a year. He had earned R747 664 in just 66 days.
Gastrow’s report highlights the fact that corruption within the South African Police Service is aggravating the crisis, and finds police departments are fighting a losing battle against police crime. Some police officers were found to be heavily involved in crime syndicates and there were
instances of them ‘eliminating’ opposition members.
Gold smugglers in the Welkom area complained that the activities of corrupt police were undercutting the price of gold on the black market.
The police put much of the problem down to cost-cutting by mining companies. They say the outsourcing of security to private companies has led to more crime.
Many smugglers are retrenched former mineworkers who obtain illegal access to mines by colluding with
security guards. Three security officials, arrested in Welkom, were found with R21 000 after just one night’s work – a private security guard earns as little as R1 200 a month.
Gastrow found that the government was unable to give sufficient priority to the problem because it lacked
information. The ringleaders, who sell much of the gold overseas, are so sophisticated that successful investigation and prosecution are difficult.
The study suggests the only way to stem the crime is for governments across the world to attack the illegal gold market itself, rather than
depend on the police to catch the criminals.