The Sunday Mail
Grace Kaerasora CCOSA Student —
Located in Zimre Park, a few kilometers from Harare’s CBD is an alluring, unappreciated wetland area and dam. Right in this area is the hub of illegal sand mining activities in particular of river and pit sand. The aesthetic value of the area alone has been devalued, and it raises a question of why the authorities aren’t declaring the area a protected site.
It is a beauteous scene and once people learn to appreciate and take good care of it as the miniature wonder it is, it will be difficult for residents even, to ignore the disastrous and unsuitable land-use that is occurring there. Unsuitable land use is the use of land for purposes for which it is environmentally unsuited for sustainable use.
The exploitation of that land and the mining of sand thereof, which would otherwise be of more value to the community as a water source and recreational site, will be expensive to try conserve after the damage has already been done. What is left of this spectacular area is immensely degraded waste land that has been left abandoned.
The sand miners rely on this uninhabited and swampy land for their livelihood and overlook the fact that they are destroying the same land that will come in handy in the not so distant future. Despite the authorities like the Environmental Management Agency and the local police’s efforts, these young sand miners continue exploiting this area.
In normal instances, once an area is claimed a legal sand mining area by the council and licensed by EMA, sand miners operating here have a responsibility to backfill their dug holes after they’ve been exhausted. However when it comes to the Zimre Park and Epworth areas, most of the mining sites are illegal and operators do so without licenses, therefore they do not feel obliged to backfill and rehabilitate the areas leaving them a sight for sore eyes.
Land is one resource that every individual should hold in high esteem despite the hardships being faced. Most of the sand miners rely on this activity to make ends meet and support their families but ignore the effects of their activities on the land. Unfortunately, as small a natural site as the river is, a lot of people within the community aren’t aware of its lonely presence and in general, most people don’t concern themselves with environmental issues and it all begins in appreciating the small things that appear unimportant but hold a lot of value.
Once one spends a few hours at the site, with that wafting, cool, fresh water breeze and a view of one or two stocks standing in the water, obviously in search of fish, they get evidence enough that life exists there. And such life is under tremendous threat if the area does not become a protected environmental site.
At this rate the land surrounding this miniature dam, having been left desolate, is going to become semi-arid and beyond repair.
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