Illegal sand mining continues, calls made for stiffer penalty against offenders

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Illegal sand mining has proved to be uncontrollable at Metsimotlhabe River, threatening to plunge the nation into drought and prompting calls for a stiffer penalty against offenders.

Currently, the department of mines is working with the police and the defence force to patrol the river and to arrest those who are found with the sand.

However, Solomon Kgobe, a technical officer at the Department of mines said in an interview that the Mines and Minerals Act adopted in 1999 should be amended since the charges are very low while illegal miners continue to make huge amounts of money at the expense of everybody.

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