The Sunday Mail
Mtandazo Dube
WITH friends like these, who needs enemies?
In 2018 small-scale miners and artisanal miners (illegal gold panners included) provided 21,7 tonnes of the record-breaking 33,2 tonnes of gold that were produced in Zimbabwe. That makes them an important economic player and a vital cog in Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando’s plans, particularly the recently launched US$12 billion mining industry blueprint.
Gold is expected to be the biggest contributor to this lofty goal – chipping in with a whopping US$4 billion. However, these important economic players are wreaking havoc in the country – digging anywhere and everywhere.
Which ever part of the country they descend on, crime spikes, infrastructure is destroyed and communities are generally turned upside-down. Police statistics show that in the mineral-rich Midlands Province, reported criminal cases rose 33 percent in the first nine months of 2019 because of the influx of gold panners.
A total of 3 709 cases were reported between January and September 2019, compared to the 2 789 recorded during the corresponding period last year. Speaking at the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) annual conference in Gweru a fortnight ago, President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged to descend heavily on perpetrators of machete violence, reiterating that deterrent sentences must be imposed on those found in possession of the weapons.
“We have heard through the media about the lawlessness among artisanal miners, some invading other people’s mines while armed with machetes. They are people who do not have mining papers. So what I am saying is that anyone found with machetes must be jailed,” said the President.
So far, it appears as if the panners are continuing with “business as usual”. The populace is crying out to the security services, whom they accuse of turning a blind eye to the gold panners’ extra-curricular activities which include rape, assault, housebreaking, murder, robbery, stocktheft and literally running over towns and cities.
However, national police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi denies this. Last week, he told The Sunday Mail Society that an operation to curb the criminal activities has been launched.
“Police in all the provinces have ongoing operations to ensure there is sanity, law and order at various mining sites. We are also working with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.”
Ass Comm Nyathi confirmed that people were coming from various places countrywide to raid and rob bona fide miners and rival panners of gold ore, goods, cash and foodstuffs. To make matters worse, the gold is now being sold on the black market, which has seen gold deliveries to Zimbabwe’s sole legal buyer of the precious metal, Fidelity Printers, plummeting by 30 percent to 12,3 tonnes in the first six months of 2019 – a far cry from the 17, 3 tonnes realised in the corresponding period in 2018.
This massive drop gives credence to alleged reports of connivance between mine owners, Fidelity Printers officials and the Zimbabwe Republic Police teams on the ground, who are said to be understating the amount of gold that a miner would have retrieved.
Last week, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube said Zimbabwe could have lost, through smuggling, between 30 and 34 tonnes of gold.
“In terms of gold output, we have seen some leakages. Deliveries have been going down at Fidelity Printers because of leakages in the sector,” said Minister Ncube.
Gold is one of Zimbabwe’s top foreign currency earners, with the precious metal fetching over US$1,6 billion in 2018.
However, the February 2019 policy by Government, in which miners get only 55 percent of their receipts in foreign currency, has seen much of the gold being diverted to the black market. It is alleged that foreign nationals use runners that buy gold directly from primary gold producers as well as the artisanal and illegal miners, who are dissatisfied with the Government policy.
Primary producers also complain that at times, Fidelity Printers take long to release their funds, which causes them to struggle with their operations as the local currency component of the payment is eroded by inflation.
Another major problem is the confusion on mining title ownership and title boundaries, something that should have been a thing of the past by now as it was one of the first things that Minister Chitando promised to deal with by putting up the cadastre system.
The cadastre method is a computerised system defining objects, subjects and rights. It overlaps other surface rights like private or State properties, reserves, farms and villages.
The system eliminates markings of mining licence demarcations using metal stakes, concrete beacons or similar fixed points surveyed using archaic methods involving tape and chains.
Furthermore, Zimbabwe is under-explored.
There is no adequate, official and scientific data on what exactly the belly of the country contains. Judging by this makorokoza menace, it seems there are minerals everywhere in this country. Therefore, it means when Government is negotiating with potential investors, some of whom are already in the country doing some work, they are doing so in darkness.
“. . . we need exploration. With all the minerals the Minister (Winston Chitando) talked about, Zimbabwe is still under-explored, there are minerals anywhere, everywhere around Zimbabwe,” Minister Ncube said last week before later allocating some funds to exploration work in the 2020 Budget.
Electricity is also another major problem that has affected mining operations.
Considering this country’s vast mineral deposits, it is clear that a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023 is achievable.
However, if the fundamentals are not addressed, and if small problems like the machete-carrying illegal gold panners are left unchecked, Minister Chitando can as well dream on.
