By: African mining

On day two of the Mine Security Conference organised by Pinpoint Stewards in Gauteng in June 2025, law enforcement and crime intelligence agencies, mine security and community experts as well as the South African Border Management Authority (BMA) emphasised the importance of collaboration, intelligence sharing and community engagement in addressing the root cause of the security challenge across our resource-rich continent involving illegal mining, the illicit trafficking of precious metals and other affiliated organised crime. “Supporting a multi-sectoral approach by bringing together state, private and mine security forces and authorities: Integrating unity, intelligence sharing and collaboration to root out illegal mining syndicates and disrupt the negative impact it has on SA’s economic and social standing,” was the title of the discussion moderated by Professor Kris Pillay, (PhD) Department of Criminology and Security Science School of Criminal Justice College of Law, UNISA.

State muscle – intelligence agencies speak

Introducing the current status in South Africa, Major General Ebrahim Ahmed Kadwa, provincial head: Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) in Gauteng and the HAWKS, explained his mandate – to lead and strengthen stakeholder engagement to enable enhanced operational responses to the scourge. “Public- private partnerships (PPPs) are currently in play and the National Coordination and Strategic Management Team (NCSMT) – an inter- departmental steering committee at the highest levels1 – brings all the different dimensions to combat this issue into focus. This includes law enforcement and policies and regulatory mechanisms, which must be strengthened,” he said.

In addition to a focus on illegal mining, he said that it was key to suppress the illicit market that supports this activity, which involves syndicates operating nationally and transnationally within the value chains in the illicit trafficking of precious metals.

An evolving narrative

Kadwa emphasised, “The entire African continent is blighted by illegal mining. Over 40 countries suffer this phenomenon every day.”

Due to current geopolitics, the gold price is soaring, and platinum is rebounding, and with this demand the behaviour of criminal elements is also evolving. He explained that hundreds of tonnes of illegally-mined gold in Africa leaves for Asia annually, amounting to billions of US Dollars in revenue losses.

The illicit trafficking of gold transborder is now being connected to international drug cartels. In Latin and Central America today, the drug cartels are diversifying their enterprises, notably into illicit, profitable gold trading.

“We are utilising international instruments to create awareness… In 2019, we tabled resolutions that were approved by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. These were geared towards ensuring that transnational organised crime is dealt with… With the support of the UN and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in promoting new legislation, we are gaining momentum in our efforts.” He added the fact that illegal mining – for both Interpol and the UN – is now classified as an environmental crime because of the environmental degradation caused by the use of mercury and cyanide and the emerging trend of deforestation affiliated with these activitie, among other reasons.

Following the money

Investigations are now adapting to syndicate behaviour and homing in on the flow of money – the buying of high-value, movable and immovable assets. The spending habits of those involved in these criminal syndicates “have been a catalyst inducing a change in the way we investigate,” he noted.

Kadwa highlighted, “These are no longer just political offenses – illicit financial investments and financial infrastructure have become a focus, and the challenge has become obtaining evidence from abroad. This requires patience. It is just a question of time before we finalise some of the evidence and start dismantling many of the key groups that are agile around the country.”

He thanked the mining operations for their support and implored more miners to come forward with leads for further investigation.

Brigadier Steve Van Zyl, section head, National Keypoints and Border Security within the Component Counter and Security Intelligence Division Crime Intelligence, South African Police Service (SAPS), Head Office, updated the audience on initiatives at play in parallel at key border locations like OR Tambo. “We prepare threat list assessments, which we then share with the DPCI,2 as well as other bodies. We also engage in undercover operations – level three to five. In addition, we support detectives on level one and two.”

He explained that his team’s effort also forms part of the National Logistics Crisis Committee, who meet on a weekly basis. He is now engaging directly with the Minerals Council South Africa too. “Our responsibilities lie in the key infrastructure space, for example the stealing of copper cables, and more.”

Prof Pillay, summarised, “What I’m seeing, and what’s exciting me here, is the willingness to share information,” adding that where there is a flow of communication, and a common understanding of what the problem is, it is much easier to put hands together and create and own solutions.”

Forensic facilitation

Ahzur Mohamed, senior forensic accountant, Shared Forensic Capabilities division at the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) concurred, he reiterated his previous statements in an earlier presentation, “Illicit mining is a persistent problem with serious economic, environmental and political implications. It affects legitimate industries, finances criminal networks and puts immense strain on local communities and law enforcement. Combatting the issue requires a co-ordinated approach including financial intelligence, forensic investigations, law enforcement, and international collaboration.”

The FIC is a key institution in this battle. As a regulator, it offers an integral point in dealing with intelligence submitted through ‘suspicious transaction’ reports and other avenues used by accountable institutions, such as banks and high-value goods dealers, among others (see figure 1). The centre harnesses this information, synthesises and enhances it using extensive data sources at its disposal. This assists law enforcement agencies in determining who the related parties are – family, directorships, memberships – in transactions involving assets purchased by suspected criminals. This is an institution that helps to put the pieces of the puzzle in financial crime together and paint a picture of the network involved in the nexus between respective alleged criminals. “We perform a flow of funds analysis, package all the data into an evidentiary process, add forensic reports, supply.

Word on and under ground – the community

Dr Mandla Zembe, security executive at Rio Tinto’s, Richards Bay Minerals proposed that the voice of the community is sometimes a missing link in the discussions when it comes to illegal mining and more. He noted that the Mine Crime Combatting Forums (MCCFs) were one of the more successful structures that assisted in combatting illegal mining and affiliated crimes in the past. These structures brought operations, detectives, traditional leaders, community leaders like councilors, as well as mine employees to the table.

His argument was that leaders of society, rather than law enforcement, can sometimes be more effective in rooting out bad behaviour – often the result of social ills like poverty and unemployment – before it leads to crime. “Structures like these, for me at this juncture, are not as strong as they were before.” He proposed that this kind of structure could support provincial authorities, forming subcommittees to the national operating committees, from the bottom up. “We are not tapping into significant information available from communities effectively,” he said.

The last line of defence

David Chilembe, deputy commissioner at the Border Management Authority (BMA), Operations, also pointed to the community as a strong ally. The borders are South Africa’s the last line of defence before illicit precious metals leave the country’s soil. The BMA plays a significant role – responsible for the execution of frontline border law enforcement functions related to, inter alia, immigration control; legitimate movements of goods, access control, biosecurity, land border infrastructure and more. The BMA was formally established in 2023, integrating public departments like the Departments of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development; Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment; Health; and Home Affairs; the South African National Defence Force (SANDF); the South African Police Service (SAPS – still not complete); and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), replacing this multi-agency approach to help manage borders more effectively. The BMA now offers a single line of command, as part of the state.

“The rationale for the establishment of the BMA was informed by various Cabinet endorsements, as recommended by the National Intelligence Estimates (NIE). These pointed to the single risk facing the country as porous borders,” said Chilembe.

There is a fine balance that must be had between trade and security. If one deals with porous borders, one can deal with 60% of the challenges.” Notably, he pointed out that the authority needed assistance with training in identifying illicit commodities.

The audience added to discussion noting: “The state sometimes seems to lack the political will to tackle the real issues at hand; and although the HAWKS are making progress, would it not make sense to establish a specialised task force withing the organisation to deal with illegal mining specifically?” A chrome miner from Steelpoort suggested that critical structures like the MCCFs be brought back into play. One final concern from the audience reverberated in a split conclusion of wins versus what is “not” being done, with this allegation from a miner: “Mining companies say that they are working together, but in reality, this is not the case.”

Perhaps the answer lies in all of the above suggestions and bolder, tighter alignment across the board?