Deliveries of explosives have been halted to one of the shafts at Harmony Gold's Randfontein mine as authorities scramble to contain a spate of ATM bombings.
As the number of ATM bombings in South Africa increases by a stunning 3 000 percent over the past three years, the Saturday Star can reveal that explosives stolen from gold mines are being sold on the black market for up to 1 000 times the going rate as demand increases for the material at the heart of what has become a common crime.
So far this year, at least 292 ATMs have been blown up across the country - with 12 cases reported in the past 10 days alone.
Johan Burger, the head of the criminal justice programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said a "huge problem" existed in the control of explosives.
"Criminals may have access to other industries but indications are they get explosives from corrupt officials at mines. People working at the mines are involved," he said.
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