Posted on August 1, 2022

Eight Models Gang Raped at Gunpoint by Armed Men While They Shoot Music Video

Jamie Pyatt Douglas Patient, Mirror, July 30, 2022

Eight models have been gang raped at gunpoint by a terrifying armed gang, while shooting a video at an illegal mine in South Africa.

The Red Button production team were filming the gospel music video near West Village, Krugersdorp, in Gauteng Province when they were attacked.

The girls tried to run when the armed illegal miners arrived wearing balaclavas – but the gang fired a volley of gunshots at them.

The models and production crew were ordered to lie down and the gang whistled and another 10 men in balaclavas appeared as well.

As the gang systematically robbed the crew and women of their mobile phones, rings, jewellery, handbags, cash and cameras the horrific rapes began.

The gang took one model at a time into the undergrowth while the robberies continued and gang raped them up to 10 times each before returning for another victim.

In all eight models and crew were raped 32 times with the youngest victim a 19-year-old.

When South African Police Services arrived at the scene a gunfight broke out and two illegal miners were shot dead and another injured but 17 escaped.

Police also arrested 65 other illegal miners in the area for suspected immigration offences while launching a massive manhunt for the rape gang.

The gold mines date back to 1887 when a rich seam was struck at Witwatersrand and the town of Krugersdorp where West Village sprung up into a boom town.

There was shock across South Africa at the horrific gang rape at 5pm last Thursday as the women were finishing a music shoot at the deserted mine.

There were 12 women and 10 men involved in the film shoot and it is believed all the models were from nearby Johannesburg who had been hired for the day.

Police spokesman Brigadier Brenda Muridil confirmed 65 potential suspects had been arrested by Friday evening for contravention of the Immigration Act.

She said police recovered unlicensed firearms, explosives, and items that belonged to the victims during the operation but had yet to identify the 17 other men.

Police Minister Bheki Cele announced earlier three men had been arrested, while officers were conducting searches in the area to find the other suspects.

He confirmed that police were investigating 32 counts of rape and a case of armed robbery and said the women were taken to hospitals or places of safety.

Their distraught parents were contacted to drive out and pick the women up.

He said: ”The operation is ongoing until all of the suspects are found and the response will be serious to show the state our protection of young women is clear.”

The Minister said the models and crew had tried to run away but the armed men shot at them and forced them to lie down before selecting a victim one at a time.

He said: ”One woman was raped 10 times and other eight another six and so on.They were all robbed and all their stuff taken including their shoes and clothes.

“Even the men were stripped with many left naked or just their underpants on,” he said.

The Minister said the police had many successful operations in which they closed down operations at illegal mines.

The gang is known as Zama Zama who terrorise and rape and rob locals – there are often huge gunfights between them and police.

They venture illegally onto old closed down mines and burrow into the rock to try and find any gold that had been missed in what can be a lucrative operation.

But many die in collapsed tunnels or from in-fighting if one miner strikes it rich.

A resident of West Village in Krugersdorp speaking to News24 on condition of anonymity to prevent reprisals said that the attack did not come as any surprise.

She said: ”They have long terrorised residents and we hear gunshots at night. It’s not something new. It is an old and ongoing problem that petrifies us all.

“Women have previously been raped and dragged into the bush. The Zama Zama is an old problem, but now we’re at a place where it’s destructive and dangerous.”

The villager said the illegal miners fought among themselves for the unlawful ownership of the old mine and residents who used it for recreational and other purposes.

She added: ”There are lots of killings and fights between and they fight and kill each other. Each morning you see their bodies at the roadside. It will never stop.”