BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has so far collected a mere US$3 500 in environment violation fines mostly from illegal gold panners and sand poachers.
This is revealed in the latest council minutes on environmental issues.
Bulawayo has been rocked by escalating sand and wood poaching as well as gold panning mostly around the city’s water catchment areas located in Matabeleland South region.
Council noted that on land degradation in water catchment areas, routine patrols were conducted in all catchment areas, where 11 illegal gold panners were apprehended and handed over to Esigodini police.
“This brought the total number of arrests since January 2025 to 47. The operation resulted in the confiscation of 52 hand tools, including five detector machines, which were also handed over to the police,” the minutes read.
“During the month of June, 82 surveillance patrols were conducted, bringing the total from January to 668.”
Illegal mining, sand poaching and wood harvesting routine patrols were recorded in Greater Bulawayo and extended patrols and blitzes were conducted in the area.
“During these operations, eight trucks were impounded and 35 tickets were issued. Of these tickets, 28 were cleared and a sum of US$3 569,25 was realised and seven tickets were still not paid with a sum of US$5 419,70. Forty surveillance patrols were conducted in Greater Bulawayo,” the minutes further read.
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“A total of eight scotch carts and two wheel barrows were confiscated. Poaching of wood remained top of the offences committed city-wide, whereas illegal gold panning in the city was going down.”
On the sale of pit sand at the two sites, council said 47 trucks were recorded at the two legal sites, where US$750 was realised.
Open air worshipping was also flagged as another major environmental hazard in the city, prompting council to conduct an operation to raid the illegal worship sites.
“An operation against open air worshiping was conducted on June 28, 2025 and 11 tents were collected and an educational awareness was conducted at lands inspectorate by the lands inspector,” the minutes stated.
During a full council meeting, councillors sought clarity on the criteria used to raid open air worshippers, where they pointed out certain worship points that continued to exist despite the absence of toilets, where congregants use nearby bushes to relieve themselves.
“Councillor Ntando Ndlovu highlighted that a lot of illegal activities were being carried out on these open air worshipping places. Properly designated areas with ablution facilities should be made available to the churches,” the minutes read.
“He further raised concern on the existence of stray animals along Ntemba Road, Masiyepambili Road, Falls Road and in some areas such as Cowdray Park and Richmond.”
Councillor Roy Sekete indicated that just next to Methodist village, residents in the area complained about stray animals and he requested urgent patrol by the rangers in the area.
Donkeys were said to be a menace in the city, especially in high-density suburbs such as Cowdray Park, Pumula, Magwegwe North as well as in peri-urban areas.
Councillor Josiah Mutangi raised concern on the number of people arrested in one month for soil extraction yet he had observed and noted that quite a number of people were involved in the illegal activity.
“Firewood was even sold in the Eveline High School area. He requested the department to improve on the enforcement of by-laws. A target for arrests was required,” read the minutes.
“Councillor Aleck Ndlovu said enforcement of by-laws on the illegal activities was required. Councillor Sikhululekile Moyo highlighted that during budget consultations, there was an outcry by residents with regards to the illegal activities in the Eveline High School area."
In response, the housing and community services department advised that there was no discrimination in raiding open air worshippers.
“Most open air churches had indicated that they had applied for land a long time ago and were yet to be allocated, hence operating illegally. The open air church opposite Josiah Chinamano had applied for a piece of land, but never got a response from council,” the minutes read.
“The department was engaging the town planning [department] with regards to the issue of making church stands available.”
On the issue of stray animals, the department said it usually engaged residents of peri-urban areas and advised them to take care of their animals and pets.
It noted that offenders were arrested and some animals impounded in extreme cases, highlighting that impounding animals was very costly as the impounded animals had to be taken care of.
