Police have arrested nine people in the Sekhukhune district in Limpopo for illegal mining and violations of the Immigration Act.

On 10 July 2025, the South African Police Service reported that they had arrested 512 suspects during Operation Vala Umgodi in the month of June. “Nationwide Vala Umgodi operations continue to ...

Five people, aged between 19 and 25, were apprehended in Middleburg during Operation Vala Umgodi for allegedly contravening South Africa’s Immigration Act. According to Captain Mpho Nonyane-Mpe, the ...

Operation Vala Umgodi—which translates to “Fill the Hole”—was introduced as a coordinated response to the country’s worsening illegal mining crisis.

On Tuesday (2/6), a coordinated operation led to the surprise discovery of four individuals actively engaged in illicit ...

Operation Vala Umgodi results in the arrest of nearly 2,000 suspects for serious crimes, including illegal mining and possession of firearms.

Police in Gauteng conducted an intelligence-driven Vala Umgodi operation, which led to the arrest of 102 suspects at Shaft 9, Mogale Crusher mine, West village in Krugersdorp, on Thursday, 8 May 2025.

The suspects were arrested during an ongoing Operation Vala Umgodi dealing with illicit mining and related crimes in the Bojanala Platinum District. The provincial police spokesperson, ...

For their part, the police have vowed Operation Vala Umgodi will continue. Now that the rescue mission is complete, the daunting task of identifying the almost 80 bodies also begins.

It is part of the police's Vala Umgodi, or Close the Hole, operation, which includes cutting off miners' supplies to force them to return to the surface and be arrested.

Press Release - The Operation Vala Umgodi task team in North West continues to call upon those illegal miners, who are still underground in the Stilfontein area, to return to the surface.