Welkom’s notorious ‘Zama-Zama king pin’ appeared in court for illegal mining

The accused Douglas Tebogo Ngobeni ,30, known with his pseudonym ‘Wonder Msimango’ appeared before the Welkom Magistrates’ Court for charges related to illegal mining, money laundering, theft and corruption.

The accused handed himself to the Hawks on Tuesday, 22 February, accompanied by his legal representatives.

His accomplices are already in police custody, following their arrest last year on15 November 2021.

“This is an ongoing project investigation lead by the Serious Organised Crime Investigation team of the Hawks in the Free State which began in July 2018, aimed at disrupting and dismantling the identified threat of illicit mining in Welkom and Thabong areas,” said Free State Hawks spokesperson captain Christopher Singo.

“During the course of the project driven investigation, the alleged targets were identified as the syndicates’ members who are involved in illicit mining activities and money laundering as well as corruption,” he said.

It is alleged that these syndicate members are owners of various businesses that are operating legally and generate some income.

However those companies are allegedly used to launder large amounts of money through their illegal mining business activities.

Moreover they allegedly use runners to illegally recruit foreign nationals to work as zama-zamas and then obtain the gold bearing material and sell it to illegal gold buyers.

The case against Ngobeni has been remanded to Wednesday, 02 March 2022 for a formal bail application.