Story by Providence Maraneli
ZIMBABWEANS have been urged to take a proactive approach in the fight against riverbed mining following the destruction of Inyankuni Bridge that links Insiza and Umzingwane districts by illegal miners.
Motorists are the most affected as they now have to wait for the mighty Umzingwane River to recede as the bridge was destroyed, but the Umzingwane – Nyankuni confluence is not the only illegal mining site that has troubled authorities, with West Nicholson in Gwanda and Nugget in Matobo being some of the hotspots.
“We are really concerned by the rampant alluvial mining in our rivers, especially in Umzingwane and Nugget in Matobo, they use chemicals that are dangerous to the environment and what worries us the most is the impact that it has had on the flow of rivers, and our dams are not filling up even with these rains,” Environmental Management Agency(EMA) Provincial Manager, Mr Decent Ndlovu said.
“Umzingwane, Gwanda, and Matobo arę districts that have really been affected, and what we have said is that when the gold rush is done, it is the districts that will rehabilitate the areas, so I think we should take a pro-active approach, and have officers monitoring these areas even outside what the EMAs say because we bear the burden,” Acting Director Local Government Mr Jusa Zachariah added.
The rampant destruction of critical infrastructure and hampering of the flow of water to major dams that supply water to Bulawayo; Inyankuni, Mayfair, Upper and Lower Ncema, and Mtshabezi has drawn the attention of the government.
“There was a cabinet resolution that all provinces should intensify the anti-riverbed mining, when we talk about this we do not mean those people with dishes sifting for gold only, but, we mean all forms of it,” the Permanent Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Devolution Engineer Tafadzwa Muguti said.
“We are worried because the destruction that comes with this form of mining is too much. We are having challenges with water in Bulawayo because most of the dams can’t receive water. After all, the miners disturbed the flow of water. We have to make sure that we implement the cabinet ban and stop all these activities.”
The government banned all forms of riverbed mining in August last year to address environmental damage and promote sustainable mining.
