By Business Reporter – Monday 10 May 2021
HARARE (Mining Index) – ON NOVEMBER 15 2020, artisanal miners were buried alive in mine shafts by a Chinese company which was sub-contracted by a Belarusian mining company at Premier Estates on the outskirts of Mutare.
Artisanal miners were suffocated to death after the pits they were working in were filled with soil by excavators during a supposedly land reclamation process.
Over 500 000 Zimbabweans, with over 3 million dependants have been forced by the failing economy and climate change, among other factors, into small scale and artisanal mining.
However, the artisanal and small-scale mining sector has been characterised by high frequency of accidents resulting in loss of lives, coupled with several bouts of inherent violence.
Hundreds of artisanal miners have died in the pits as a result of criminality in the sector, weak governance, poor environmental management and cold blood murder by politically connected players.
Absence of the social license
In Zimbabwe, mining companies obtain formal licenses from the central government and other regulatory bodies which govern mining related activities.
Armed with these licenses, firms have proceeded to the mining sites without any consideration of consulting local communities.
The entry of Large Scale Miners to any community has been very intrusive to the social, economic and cultural norms of the locals.
Besides being destructive to the environment, mining exacerbates the vulnerability of local communities, especially women, youths and children, as was noted by the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development, Hon Edmond Mukwaratigwa during his visit to Premier Estates on Sunday 22 November 2020.
Climate change-induced droughts have caused rain-fed agriculture to be unpredictable.
Consequently, there is a growing number of local men and women who exclusively depend on gold panning for survival.
At Premier Estates, thousands of young people from surrounding villages, Mutare town and even from other provinces have swarmed what used to be farm land in search of gold in order to survive.
Thus when a Belarusian company was secretly awarded a special grant to mine alluvial gold deposits at Premier Estates, where hundreds of artisanal miners were working for a couple of years now, a standoff ensued.
Attempts to displace locals were met with stiff resistance.
The mining company then claimed it was no-longer interested in mining but rather farming, in compliance with the Cabinet decision to ban mining in national parks and along rivers.
Earthmoving machinery was used to fill the mining shafts despite protests from artisanal miners who insisted there were people mining underground.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development visited the area on Sunday 22 November 2020, about a week after the incident, and noted that there was absence of a social license for the mining company.
Committee chairperson, Hon Mukaratigwa highlighted that the Chinese company contracted by a Belarusian investor did not involve the community leadership in notifying the miners.
Therefore, the company lacked the “social acceptability” and “social permission” that is a prerequisite for any business to operate.
Although mining activities are susceptible to accidents, our findings here are pointing to an accident as a result of negligence.
What we see is that the miners were resistant as they went ahead into the shafts despite being told not to.
There is also a gap between contractors and local community, especially in the way they circulated the information of the reclamation.
They did not involve the local leaders who have a way of making sure that this type of communication reaches the people more efficiently when such reclamation activities are carried out to eliminate resistance.
Zimbabwe Republic Police Acting Officer Commanding Mutare Rural District acknowledged the absence of a social license and submits that as the police force, they had to provide security because there are sections of the community which were not happy with the coming in of the investor.
Although the Belarusian and Chinese companies are claiming that they notified the local community of the scheduled operation which they intended to implement, locals and artisanal miners are disputing the claim.
Impunity and lack of transparency and accountability in the mining sector
Rescue efforts at Premier Estates led to the recovery of two bodies of artisanal miners.
Despite that the alleged land reclamation which led to casualties that happened in full view of the police, no one has been held accountable for murder.
Although the company has already taken responsibility for the deaths by giving their families funeral assistance, Police have not preferred any charges against the company.
The attitude by the state shows that the Government of Zimbabwe valorises corporates over protecting citizens’ rights, which has become the blind side of the Zimbabwe is Open for Business drive.
The ascendancy of President Mnangagwa to the helm of the country’s leadership was punctuated by undertones of courting international investors.
‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business’ became his mantra, which was aimed at attracting investors, particularly to the mining sector.
In October 2019, Government launched a mining-centred strategic plan, aimed at achieving a US$12 billion mining economy by 2023.
The strategic plan is part of the broader roadmap of having an Upper Middle-Income Economy by 2030.
According to the strategic plan, gold, among other minerals is central to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery plan and it is expected to contribute $4 billion per year by 2023.
Dubious foreign ‘investors’, with no proven track record in mining, have taken advantage of Zimbabwe’s economic policy loopholes and the rent seeking behaviour by the country’s ruling elites to venture into various mining operations in Zimbabwe.
Since these are not established mining firms, they can only extract surface minerals hence the numerous clashes with artisanal miners.
Thus government is teaming up with foreign syndicates to violently displace its own citizens from mining sites and hand over the same to their foreign allies.
In Marange artisanal miners have demonstrated since 2006 that they are well capable to extract diamonds using basic tools such as hoes, picks and shovels.
The money they generate is circulated locally as opposed to the dodgy companies formed by the ruling elites which former President Robert Mugabe accused of looting $15 billion in potential diamond revenues.
Government’s appetite for bribes and resource rents has led to fly by night investors recklessly exploiting mineral resources at the expense of the local community’s constitutional right to benefit from locally found natural resources.
The Zimbabwe is Open for Business call has opened the country to lawless capitalists and organised criminal syndicates who have no respect for local interests and values.
There is also a blatant disregard for the law by the incoming ‘investors’.
It emerged during the tour by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development that when the Belarusian first started mining at Premier Estates, they were using tourist visas.
It remains unclear how these tourists were awarded with a special mining grant.
When challenged by local community members to declare their interests the Belarusians allegedly retreated and sought protection from the state which provided them with Police reinforcements.
Police were then instructed to disperse the artisanal miners by the Belarusians.
The heavy presence of plain clothes and uniformed Police officers at Premier Estate is testimony of the involvement of powerful ruling elites in the activities.
Farming or Mining?
The Belarusian Company was reported to have been awarded a Special Mining Grant to embark on riverbed mining along the Mutare River.
However, the public relations manager of the company said following government directive to ban riverbed mining, the company started to reclaim the area in preparation for commercial farming.
It is however not clear if the company’s special mining grant was revoked or they are using the same mining permit to engage in farming.
The sudden change of the land use plan raises questions about the expertise and business plans of these investors being courted by the government.
Do these investors who intended to undertake mining activities, have the relevant farming skills?
If they are genuine mining company, how can they suddenly change their trade from mining to farming?
Do they intend to undertake mining under the guise of farming?
Where necessary legal and environmental management procedures undertaken for this change from mining to agriculture.
All these questions are a speck in the arrangement between the Zimbabwean government and the investors.
Amidst this chaos, neither the Ministry of Mines nor local government officials have stepped forward to explain the legal status of the Belarusians and Chinese at Premier Estate.
Conclusion
The chaos, confusion, criminality and impunity surrounding the Premier Estates incident epitomises the extent of chaos and irregularities characterising the mining sector in Zimbabwe.
There is likelihood of an increase of similar disasters in the near future owing to ever rising tensions between guests of the State and local communities who believe they too have a constitutional right to access minerals within their localities.
It is also critical for government to engage with locals when they intend to bring an investor.
Not only must government seek the free, prior and informed consent of local people, but rather it should acknowledge that locals have a right to say NO to certain ‘investments’ if these undermine the local social, economic and environmental rights.
Development must not be forced on the people. https://www.cnrgzim.org/impunity-chaos-and-poor-accountability-costs-lives-in-the-gold-mining-sector/ ENDS// www.miningindex.co.zw
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