Pretoria - Eighty seven alleged illegal miners, “zama-zamas”, appeared at the Stilfontein Regional Court on Wednesday where they have been charged with six counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, conspiracy to commit robbery and illegal mining.
They were allegedly operating at a shaft in Orkney.
The State added new charges against the accused, including possession of automatic firearms, attempted murder and contravening the immigration act.
During their last appearance in December, it emerged that all the accused were in the country illegally.
The suspects abandoned their bail applications as they were verified to be in the country illegally.
During their arrest in October last year, eight of the accused were wounded and six were fatally wounded during a shoot-out with police.
The eight have since been discharged from hospital and are now in police custody.
Following the shoot-out, police discovered, two mini-buses, illegal mining paraphernalia, gold-bearing material, eleven Illegal firearms (3 shotguns, 3 rifles, 4 pistols and 1 revolver) and bags of food.
The suspects are expected to appear in court on April 2.
IOL