Rural communities across Matabeleland risk losing control of their land and livelihoods as mining expands, with limited legal protection for people whose fields, homes and water sources are affected by mineral extraction, Nkayi lawyer Richard Moyo Majwabu has warned.
Majwabu said Zimbabwe’s current legal framework gives the State control over mineral resources while leaving communities with limited rights over what lies beneath the land they occupy.
He said the issue was particularly critical in rural areas such as Nkayi, where communities depend heavily on agriculture and natural resources.
Majwabu noted that while independence had broadened land access, the majority of rural Zimbabweans still lacked full private freehold title. Communal land remains vested in the president, while A1 farmers hold customary permits and A2 farmers operate through state-issued leases.
“The absence of transferable title deeds limits farmers’ ability to use their land as collateral, invest with confidence and secure inheritance,” he said while speaking during a virtual discussion organised by the Nkayi Community Parliament.
Turning to mining, Majwabu said the Mines and Minerals Act vests mineral rights in the State regardless of who owns or occupies the surface land.
“A landowner or communal land occupant has no automatic right to the minerals beneath their land,” he said.
While this arrangement ensures mineral resources remain national assets, Majwabu warned it leaves rural communities vulnerable when mining operations disrupt fields, grazing areas, water sources and homesteads.
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“Surface occupants can find their fields, wells and homesteads disrupted by miners with superior legal rights, often for compensation they see as inadequate,” he said.
Majwabu said mining was increasingly winning the contest for rural land because minerals generated foreign currency faster than most forms of agriculture. This expansion, he warned, had resulted in displacement, environmental degradation, social conflict and a shift of rural labour from farming into artisanal mining.
“Some rural households have shifted labour and youth away from farming into artisanal mining, chasing faster, if riskier, income—with knock-on effects for food security and school attendance,” he said.
However, Majwabu said mining and agriculture should not necessarily be viewed as competing sectors.
Properly managed mining could generate employment, business opportunities and infrastructure for rural communities.
“The honest message is that this is not a contest either sector needs to ‘win’ outright—the real policy failure is the absence of effective land-use planning and community-benefit mechanisms that would let both coexist,” he said.
Majwabu called for an enforceable requirement for prior community consultation and free, prior and informed consent before prospecting or pegging on occupied communal or resettlement land.
He also advocated for minimum compensation benchmarks and a transparent public register showing who holds prospecting and mining rights.
He raised concern over rural residents investing substantial amounts in homes on land without title deeds, saying such investments remained vulnerable.
“Without title deeds, the investment has no formal collateral value,” he said.
Majwabu urged communities to secure whatever documentation was available, including written allocation records and permits.
Former Tsholotsho legislator Maxwell Dube said rural communities needed greater recognition and involvement in decisions concerning mineral resources found on their land.
“Even the communities must be recognised by the government,” Dube said, questioning whether communities were benefiting from mineral wealth in their areas.
The discussion came amid reports from Bubi District, where community members alleged that miners from Mashonaland had invaded Gududu Village 12, chasing locals away from a gold mining site.
Bongani Ncube, a villager, said people from Mashonaland had taken over the area, refilling pits dug by community members and fencing the site.
“When I confronted them, they called someone who introduced himself as a soldier,” Ncube said.
Later, armed police officers visited his home, and he now lives in fear of being attacked.
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Richard Moyo said he was not yet aware of the issue.
“I think they must report to the police and the Ministry of Mines. These could be criminal people who, upon hearing about a gold rush, pounce on the area to start pegging and abusing the communities,” Moyo said.
Majwabu said communities should insist on being consulted before mining decisions were made rather than simply seeking compensation after damage had occurred.
