Sofia
Mapuranga
The
resolution
was
made
at
a
recent
community
dialogue
that
brought
together
close
to
50
CBO
representatives
drawn
from
the
province,
among
them
Manica
Youth
Assembly
(MAYA),
Zimbabwe
Diamond
and
Allied
Workers
Union
(ZIDAWU),
Zivai
Community
Empowerment
Trust
(ZICET),
Young
Entrepreneurs
Trust
(YETZ)
and
Mutasa
Youth
Forum
Trust.
The
dialogue
was
convened
by
Information
for
Development
Trust
(IDT)
under
the
title,
“Impact
of
Foreign
and
Local
Gold
Mining
Activities
on
the
Environment
and
Local
Socio-economic
Rights”.
Committee
members
were
chosen
from
these
community-based
non-state
organisations
that
converged
in
Mutare
to
discuss
various
issues
that
included
the
impact
of
riverbed
mining
on
the
local
environment,
civil
society
efforts
in
countering
adverse
resource
extraction
and
the
sustainability
of
gold
mining
in
areas
like
Penhalonga.
The
meeting
comes
in
the
wake
of
prevalent
and
harmful
environmental
practices
by
foreign
and
local
companies.
Zimbabwe
Goldfields,
a
joint
venture
between
the
Zimbabwean
government
and
Belarusian
investors,
has
been
engaged
in riverbed
mining
in
Penhalonga,
resulting
in
extreme
siltation
and
pollution
of
the
Mutare
and
Odzi
rivers.
The
venture,
which
has
also
subcontracted
Chinese
miners,
has
diverted
Mutare
River,
with
the
massive
pollution
due
to
the
discharge
of
chemicals
into
the
nearby
water
bodies
causing
a
shortage
of
potable
water
in
the
area.
Also
in
Penhalonga,
artisanal
gold
mining
involving
Betterbrands,
a
company
owned
by
Pedzisai
Scott
Sakupwanya,
a
ruling
Zanu
PF
lawmaker
and
reported
protégé
of
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa, has
caused
river
poisoning
through
cyanidation,
in
addition
to
massive
damage
to
the
physical
environment.
The
CBOs
tasked
the
committee
members
with
engaging
the
foreign
and
local
investors
mining
in
the
affected
areas
so
as
to
come
up
with
win-win
strategies.
In
addition,
the
committee
will
engage
the
Mines
parliamentary
portfolio
committee
as
well
as
other
stakeholders
that
include
the
Environmental
Management
Agency
(EMA).
The
committee
is
supposed
to
highlight
the
concerns
coming
from
the
communities
and
discuss
possible
solutions
with
the
respective
stakeholders.
Said
Fungai
Nhaitai,
the
YETZ
leader:
“We
are
going
to
petition
government
to
action
previous
petitions
which
they
have
ignored
as
a
starting
point
of
the
action
plan.
There
are
community
organisations
from
Penhalonga
that
have
submitted
petitions
to
government
but
nothing
was
done.”
Nhaitai
The
communities
resolved
to
work
on
an
information
dissemination
framework
to
be
used
to
mobilise
affected
communities
so
they
have
a
united
front
in
their
fight
for
environmental
and
socio-economic
justice.
“We
are
going
to
use
the
existing
legislation
and
leverage
on
its
powers
to
demand
our
socio-
economic
rights.
Communities
have
a
right
to
manage
their
own
affairs
and
they
should
get
their
share
from
mining
proceeds.
“Devolution
gives
communities
the
powers
to
manage
their
own
resources
but
it
is
not
being
applied
in
the
mining
sector.
Communities
should
be
empowered
so
that
they
are
able
to
demand
their
rights
and
accountability,”
said
Prince
Mupindu,
a
Zimbabwe
Coalition
on
Debt
and
Development
(ZIMCODD)
youth
volunteer.
The
communities
resolved
to
mobilise
and
participate
in
the
crafting
of
a new
Mines
and
Minerals
law meant
to
improve
on
the
current
legislation
that
has
been
criticised
for
being
“antiquated
and
out
of
touch
with
new
national
and
international
law
developments”.
The
proposed
new
law—which
has
been
on
the
cards
since
2012—seeks
to,
among
other
things,
ensure
tighter
environmental
protection,
effective
settlement
of
farmer-miner
disputes,
greater
accountability
in
mine
ownership
and
more
robust
corporate
social
responsibility.
“There
is
need
to
identify
a
common
ground
so
that
as
communities
we
also
benefit
from
the
precious
resources
being
extracted
in
our
area,”
said
Precious
Gamunorwa,
a
legal
expert
from
ZIDAWU
who
was
one
of
the
panelist.
Catherine
Sithole
from
ZICET
lamented
the
challenges
being
experienced
by
women
and
girls,
saying
there
was
increased
gender-based
violence,
school
dropouts,
child
labour
and
abuse
and
early
teen
pregnancies
because
of
mining
activities
in
Penhalonga.
Cosmas
Sunguro
from
ZIDAWU
Trust
told
the
meeting
that
youths
and
women
were
not
benefitting
from
the
economic
proceeds
from
the
minerals
extracted
in
their
communities.
Sunguro
of
ZIDAWU
speaks
at
the
dialogue
Mildred
Muzanechita
from
ZICET
said
women
and
youths
were
the
most
affected
by
unsustainable
mining
practices,
adding
that
it
was
important
for
communities
to
mobilise
and
come
up
with
effective
frameworks
designed
to
ensure
they
benefit
from
the
extractive
sector.
Muzanechita
“Currently,
communities
are
left
to
bear
the
costs
of
mining
where
they
are
losing
livestock
and
even
human
life
from
the
environmental
degradation
left
by
the
foreign
investors.
The
Belarusians
came
and
mined
and
left.
Now
they
are
back
but,
as
communities,
no-one
has
asked
them
where
they
are
getting
the
mandate
to
do
as
they
please
on
our
environment,”
she
said.
She
demanded
that
communities
be
given
access
to
information
regarding
contractual
agreements
between
the
foreign
mining
companies
and
government,
saying
the
steering
committee
must
prioritise
contractual
transparency.
–
News
Hub
Zimbabwe