UMZINGWANE MP William Dhewa says illegal gold miners from as far as Harare have flooded the Matabeleland South district in search of the precious mineral resulting in high crime rates.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
Dhewa of Zanu PF told Southern Eye at the launch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, (Misa-Zimbabwe chapter) information kiosk in Habane, Esigodini on Tuesday that illegal gold miners were causing havoc in the constituency.
“We have a challenge of illegal gold miners who do not have specific places to mine as they sometimes mine in people’s farms,” he said.
“You might find people coming as far as Harare, Mutare, among other areas, and because of that, accommodation becomes a problem as well as the crime rate has become high.”
Dhewa said it was hard to investigate some of the crimes as perpetrators were highly mobile.
He said the most affected areas were the Ncema catchment area, Umzingwane and Malungwane. He said they had tried to educate the illegal miners on dangers of panning along rivers to no avail.
Dhewa said there was too much gold leakage in the area as most miners did not have licences.
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He urged the government to give such miners licences so that they could sell the yellow mineral to Fidelity Printers.
Misa-Zimbabwe established an information kiosk in rural Umzingwane where villagers could easily access free newspapers and Wi-Fi, among other services.
According to Misa-Zimbabwe vice-chairperson Lifaqane Nare, the Umzingwane information kiosk is the first of its kind in rural areas of Zimbabwe, meant to empower communities through easy access to information.
Misa-Zimbabwe director Nhlanhla Ngwenya said information was key to development and as such, every citizen of Zimbabwe was entitled to it.
The Umzingwane kiosk, which is housed at the Umzingwane Parliamentary Information Centre, comprises a newspaper rack where all national papers can be accessed, including NewsDay and other papers in the Alpha Media Holdings stable.
State papers would be available to enable citizens to peruse at no cost. Other municipal documents would be on offer.
Misa-Zimbabwe would through information kiosks subscribe to all mainstream newspapers circulating in Zimbabwe and provide other relevant advocacy and lobby material.
Similar kiosks have been opened in Gweru, Mutare, Masvingo, Kariba and Gwanda.
The villagers would be receiving newspapers for free over a 12-month period.
