Community members in Bapong, North West, are urgently calling on the government to deploy South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops to their area to address escalating criminal activity, including the stripping of abandoned excavators for scrap metal.
Residents report that abandoned excavators—some originally used in mining operations—are now attracting criminals who cut up the heavy machinery and sell the parts to scrapyards. One excavator, which had been trapped at a site where miners were previously buried after a soil cave-in, has reportedly vanished entirely.
A local community member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, described the situation:
“Some people they came and what they did, they came with the bolt cutters and they cut all the excavator off. Then they put the excavator in the truck and they take it. I hear they said they take it to the scrapyard.”
The resident noted that at least three excavators have been dismantled in this manner. While some abandoned machines still have guards—allegedly paid by the original owners to protect them—those guards have reportedly not been paid recently, leaving the equipment vulnerable.
Beyond the scrapping of machinery, the community member painted a grim picture of daily life in Bapong:
“We can’t even go to work in the morning because people they taking our wallets on the road. We don’t have rest here. We can’t even sleep proper because you don’t know what is next, who is standing next to your house. There’s big holes here. There’s big mountains. Soil is making big mountains.”
The resident admitted that locals no longer report crimes to the authorities, citing a complete loss of trust.
“We didn’t report it because we have reasons. Even we report some stuff, we don’t get help. We go to the cops, you don’t get help. Anyone is doing his own thing. We just leave because we don’t know why.”
The community is now pinning its hopes on the SANDF, following the president’s announcement during the State of the Nation Address that troops would be deployed to areas affected by criminal activities, gang-related hotspots, and illegal mining.
“We’d like to see the army there,” the resident said. “We saw on the news they are in Cape Town. We are hoping so much they can come over to this site in North West and assist us with these criminal things. Come and close all these holes we have here.”
For now, residents say the area is quiet only because police recently made a “big rush,” but the holes and abandoned equipment remain. No digging is currently happening, but the community lives in constant fear.
“We are stuck with these holes and these excavators,” the resident concluded.