‘Bigwigs behind Bubi panners’

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A Bubi Rural District councillor has accused some government officials of fuelling illegal mining activities in the area resulting in violent clashes.
Illegal gold miners
Illegal gold miners

A Bubi Rural District councillor has accused some government officials of fuelling illegal mining activities in the area resulting in violent clashes.

BY MELODY CHIMHAU

The district is suspected to be rich in gold, diamonds, copper, nickel and limestone deposits.

Illegal miners have flooded the Matabeleland North district in recent years targeting mainly gold.

Ward 8 councillor Herbert Gwendu told Southern Eye on Monday in Bubi that “authorities” were fuelling illegal mining.

“The problem is that there are authorities fuelling the rise in illegal mining in this area and some police officers are involved too,” he claimed without naming the officials.

“This area has turned into a war zone because there have been some clashes between locals and illegal gold miners who continue to pour into the area coming from as far as Gwanda, Silobela, Filabusi and Shurugwi”.

Gwendu claimed three men were recently attacked by a group of illegal miners and they sustained life threatening injuries.

“After the attacks I went to the police with a letter in which I had written down all the names of people involved, but nothing was done,” he said.

“We really need help to stop this destruction.

“The senator (Madeline Bhebhe), Member of Parliament (Clifford Sibanda) and the officer-in-charge of this area have letters I wrote with full names of corrupt officials, but nothing has been done.”

Growing poverty, hunger and unemployment has driven Zimbabweans into a myriad of illegal activities including mining, causing wide-spread environmental degradation and pollution whose effects experts say will be difficult to reverse in the long run.

In the run up to the 2013 harmonised elections, Zanu PF promised to regularise operations of illegal miners saying they played an important role in the economy.

However, two years after winning the polls nothing has been done to change the mining laws.