Counter-return activities are being conducted at South Africa’s border lines to prevent deported illegal miners from returning to the country.
On Sunday, the department informed Members of Parliament on actions to combat Gauteng’s issue of illegal mining.
The portfolio committee on natural resources and energy was in Johannesburg for an oversight visit to Riverlea, which is rife with illegal mining.
“To ensure that those who are deported do not return,” said Home Affairs’ Albert Matsaung, “those operations are made along the border and not very far from our borderline, especially within the Zimbabwean side, Mozambique side, and Lesotho side because those are the areas that have a sizeable number of people that we are deporting.”