The Sunday Mail
Emmanuel Kafe
Passers-by cannot help shaking their heads in dejection as the once scenic landscape is slowly turning into unsightly craters and gullies — the work of unlicenced brick moulders and sand poachers daily scalping off the grass and scooping tonnes of soil for their respective trades.
It is in Epworth, a 20km drive from the city centre, a dormitory town which has been inhabited since 1890, the same area where the picturesque balancing rocks are found.
The place used to be a dense forest but with an expanding population, the green foliage has since disappeared, with residents and conservationists now worried about what will become of the environment.
Last week, scores of men and women could be seen loading onto trucks sand or bricks baked in makeshift kilns around the area.
Ramshackle old lorries entering and leaving the compound were raising clouds of dust and gave the impression of a thriving mining operation.
“Kwa Reuben” as the area is popularly known by the locals, has been reduced to a land of rubbles and gullies. One could mistake it for an abyss.
While the residents are concerned that their environs are being turned into a wasteland, those involved in the illegal activities see it as a brisk business.
Thirty-five-year-old Wise Arumando who operates just opposite Domboramwari High School says the illegal brick-moulding business is his only means of livelihood.
“As a father with a family to feed, I have to do anything to bring food on the table,” said Arumando.
He used to work for a factory that has since closed shop.
“It is better for me to survive on something that is environmentally unfriendly rather than being involved in criminal activities,” he argued.
His co-workers said they are aware that their activities which are degrading the environment are illegal. However, they said it is a matter of survival.
Moulding bricks or scarring the land for sand without a licence is unlawful in Zimbabwe.
And yet small-scale, unlicenced brick moulding is common in peri-urban areas like Mt Hampden, Hopley, Seke and Epworth.
According to the Zimbabwe’s Fifth National Report to the Convention on Biodiversity, it is contributing to the extensive environmental degradation.
The rapid demand for urban housing has led to an increase in the need for bricks and sand, the report says, and this has resulted in the scarring and clearing of land.
A customer who was buying the sand said people are drawn to the illegal sand poachers and brick moulders by their low prices.
“As long as the prices in the formal markets are high, I don’t see this practice coming to an end,” the man said.
He is building his house with bricks and sand sourced from the unlicenced traders.
The brick traders sell 1 000 bricks for as little as $40 while licenced companies sell the same quantity for about four times more, at $160.
Unlicenced traders leave a trail of dangerous pits and ugly patches.
An Epworth resident, Aaron Dhobie, complained that water accumulates in the gullies and puts children at high risk of drowning, especially during this rainy season.
“They are not even concerned with what becomes of us, deep pools and open pits collect water, thereby exposing children to risk,” he said.
Dhobie added that the gullies, pools and puddles make perfect breeding areas for vermin and even hiding places for robbers. They are also a threat to both wild and domestic animals as they too risk drowning.
Besides all this, sand abstraction also destroys agricultural land, compromising livelihoods and food security.
“They are continuously cutting down the few left trees here and we are very concerned, the responsible bodies or authorities should do something,” fumed an Overspill resident who preferred anonymity, fearing reprisals.
An environmental expert with Environment Africa said the only way to curb land degradation, pollution and deforestation; is through awareness campaigns on the dangers of such activities.
“More education within communities remains the best alternative to safeguarding the environment, besides addressing social-economic issues affecting these communities,” he said.
To deal with this, Government came up with Statutory Instrument 7 of 2007.
The SI requires those engaging in soil extraction for commercial purposes to be licenced. According to Statutory Instrument 7 of 2007 for Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) and Ecosystem protection, “No person shall excavate, remove, possess or licence the removal of clay or sand deposit for commercial purposes without a licence by the Agency.”
Sand and clay mining is one of the major drivers of land degradation in Zimbabwe’s urban, semi-urban and rural service centres as well as growth points, mainly due to construction activities.
Most of the sand miners do so from undesignated points and do not rehabilitate the land afterwards.
Efforts to get an official comment from the Environmental Management Agency spokesperson, Steady Kangata, were fruitless as his calls went unanswered. However, he is on record urging people not to excavate sand or do brick moulding without a licence.
