More than 80 people arrested after the gang-rape of eight South African women appeared in court on Monday as the police minister described the attack as “a shame to the nation”. A gang of gunmen forced their way into a music video filmed near a dump in Krugersdorp, a small town west of Johannesburg, on Thursday. Eight young women from the cast were raped in an incident that shocked the country, which has one of the highest crime rates in the world. “What happened in Krugersdorp is just a national shame,” Police Minister Becky Selle told a news conference on Monday, adding that some of the victims would suffer long-term consequences. “Some of these disasters are permanent with these children.” According to the police, the gang attacked the crew and cast while they were unloading equipment and preparing the set. Police blamed illegal migrant workers in the mines – known locally as Zama Zama – and arrested 84 people during a raid in the area. Two more suspects were killed in a shootout with police and a third was injured and taken to a local hospital, police said. On Monday, the detainees began appearing in court on charges of illegal entry and possession of stolen property. National Police Chief Fani Masemola said an investigation would establish whether the suspects were linked to the rape. No one has yet been charged in the sexual assaults. A small group of protesters gathered outside the court demanding speedy justice. Some held signs that read ‘No bail for rapists’, ‘Am I next?’ and “My body is not a crime scene.” The incident sparked an ongoing debate over whether to introduce chemical castration for rapists. It has also piled pressure on Cele, with critics arguing that law enforcement agencies are inadequate to tackle crime in the country, which has some of the highest murder rates in the world and has recently been hit by a spate of deadly shootings. In his weekly bulletin on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said “horrific acts of violence are an affront to the right of women and girls to live and work in freedom and security,” as he said “rapists have no place in society us”.