The Sunday Mail
Shaking his head every now and then, Mr Thulani Dube (22) of Crossroads, Silobela in the Midlands province, restlessly paces up and down his homestead, inspecting his unfinished house.Had it not been for the closure of Peace Mine, Mr Dube’s six-roomed house would have been complete by now.
Every day, Mr Dube walks to and from the closed mine which is about eight kilometres away – just to check if the mine has resumed operations.
He desperately needs money to finish his house.
Mr Dube, and thousands of other Silobela residents, have been having sleepless nights following the suspension of the mine’s operations by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
Peace Mine was closed after the local Member of Parliament, Honourable Mthokozisi Manoki Mpofu, made several representations in Parliament, calling for its closure.
Hon Mpofu raised the issue in the National Assembly in 2015 and asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development Walter Chidhakwa to stop the alleged illegal mining activities.
The legislator said a lot of corrupt activities were going on at Peace Mine, with a few individuals benefiting.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development subsequently issued a suspension order for the mine to cease operations on February 17, 2016.
In his presentation, the Mines and Mining Development deputy minister Freddy Moyo stated that the suspension order was granted due to “unorganised work processes” that constituted to dangerous mining activities.
But Mr Dube feels robbed of his only source of livelihood.
“Life is grossly unfair at times. As you can see, this house is nearing completion. All I need is the roofing material. With the mine closed, there is nowhere else to get money for the final touches,” he said.
But before all this, in 2015, Peace Mine which is owned by the Silobela Community Development Trust made history by becoming the country’s first ever functional gold service centre.
A gold service centre is an establishment where all the functions related to gold mining – from extracting to processing and sales – are co-ordinated from.
A Government initiative, gold service centres are aimed at boosting gold production and to curb leakages. They are also meant to formalise the artisanal miners and to promote self-reliance and beneficiation in the small-scale gold mining sector.
Peace Mine even scooped a number of awards run by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce and the Zimbabwe Chamber of Small to Medium Enterprises.
Although the Silobela centre lacked most of the basic features of a proper gold service centre, this community initiative was without question a step in the right direction.
A typical gold service centre would be comprised of a clinic, offices of the Government’s official gold-buying firm Fidelity and firms that sell or hire mining equipment.
When The Sunday Extra visited Silobela in November last year, Peace Mine was a hive of activity, with the community mining and selling gold on site.
Syndicates of 20 people took turns to mine, with the gold being sold directly to Fidelity.
The mine, with its two connecting shafts, was one of the most mechanised small-scale mines in the country.
On site were industrial compressors, drills, water pumps and jack hammers, among others.
The trust’s notable achievements then included the electrification of the centre at a cost of $20 000 and the acquisition of a $75 000 processing plant. For $16 000, electric compressors were also acquired.
Production was then pegged at 8kgs of gold every month with a target to reach 20kgs per month.
The mine also boasts of a crusher, bow mill and a separator and was capable of processing two tonnes of ore.
Business was also brisk for downstream beneficiaries with traders descending on the centre from Gokwe and Kwekwe, among other areas.
Vendors sold virtually everything — from maize to clothes.
Locals said that the mine had resulted in criminal activities, especially stock theft, going down.
Barely eight months later, the Silobela community is back to square one.
A drought-prone area, hunger has once again returned to haunt the villagers as more than 4 700 families were benefitting from the mine directly or indirectly.
Ms Cindy Sibanda, who used to earn a living by selling food to the miners, is hoping the mine will be re-opened soon.
“I used to sell food here and life was good. I am now suffering since I have no other source of income to feed my family,” Ms Sibanda said.
Mr Arthur Mzingeli Nkiwane, the chairman of the Silobela Community Development Trust, is saddened by the current state of affairs.
“The local community is largely dependent on this mine. Since there is no other source of income, the closure of the mine brought with it strife and sorrow. In the past, we used to have traders coming in from almost every corner of the country but this is no longer the case,” a clearly dejected Mr Nkiwane said.
Investigations carried out by this publication revealed that there is a long-standing feud between Mr Nkiwane and Hon Mpofu, his deputy in the Trust.
The legislator has been accusing Mr Nkiwane of abusing Trust funds.
Mr Nkiwane recently filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against him, which is still pending. A fuming Mr Nkiwane accused Hon Mpofu of pushing for the “unfair closure of the mine”.
“The MP thinks that I am stealing the thunder from him,” Mr Nkiwane claimed.
However, Hon Mpofu shot back, accusing him of abusing funds.
“All I am asking for is transparency and accountability. I have a report which points out that Nkiwane and his friends failed to account for funds,” he said.
“The workers were working under dangerous conditions and I could not sit back and watch,” Hon Mpofu said.
Mr Wellington Takavarasha, the President of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation, said the impasse is still far from being resolved.
“There has been a serious flouting of laws and a total defiance of the directives from the Ministry (of Mines and Minning Development). The impasse between the board on issues to do with an investor coming aboard is another issue. Issues to do with safety are also yet to be rectified. Had the board agreed to the Ministry’s recommendations, the mine could have been operational by now,” Mr Takavarasha said.
