Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has called for the deployment of the SANDF, as well as other law enforcement agencies, following weeks of zama zamas shooting incidents forcing residents situated near mine dumps to live in fear. Various law enforcement agencies have been conducting raids mostly in the West Rand but Gauteng Police Commissioner General Elias Mawela admitted that as soon as they leave, the zama zamas resurface from their hiding places and continue with their operations.

Lesufi said Gauteng is under siege by people who are not from this country and needs to be protected. "I am very firm on that. Not only the army, but we need all law enforcement agencies' firepower and the capabilities of those law enforcement agencies. If it is the army, the police, the metro police or whoever has that mandate to ensure that we protect South Africans, they must do so," Lesufi said in a media interview. He added, "Gauteng is under siege from people who are not citizens of this country, people that cannot be accounted for, people that are highly armed and we expect that the problem can be resolved by police that patrol on a weekly basis. We need all the necessary firepower that the country possesses. If that includes the army, I am one of the people to say they must be deployed." 

Lesufi said the military's focus should be to go underground and target all the zama zamas hiding there. "They must go down there and flush those people because we do not know them. You cannot use South African laws of apprehending them, making them appear in court when you don't even know how they arrived in our country. We must go down there, flush them out and let the last person stand and ensure that we have got prosperity and peace forever in our country," he said. Lesufi expressed frustration that some aren't allowed to move around freely in their communities because they fear getting caught in the zama zama crossfire. Last week Thursday, women and children from Jerusalema informal settlement sought refuge at the Florida Police Station after a shooting that left three dead in a space of a week. The premier said because of the scourge of illegal miners and the crime linked to it, including the violent turf wars, some areas around Ekurhuleni are no-go areas for community members.