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Known for their rugged mountain ranges, grassy plains and forest waterfalls, the Chimanimani Mountains in eastern Zimbabwe have long been a popular destination for tourists and gold miners hoping to get rich.
Travel restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 have kept tourists away, although some attractions reopened last month.
But illegal mining has increased as miners take advantage of the lack of visitors, leaving a trail of environmental destruction in their wake, researchers and activists say.
“Waters are being polluted; biodiversity poisoned; endemic plants unearthed (and) trampled; animals and birds poached; (and) trash scattered all over the mountains,” said Julia Pierini, director of BirdLife Zimbabwe, a non-profit organization. profit.
Activists, industry experts and some of the miners themselves say that rangers employed by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) to protect Chimanimani National Park are involved in the illegal activity.
“For the past two years, we have been seeing illegal gold miners in the mountains, but suddenly during the confinement we started seeing hundreds of them,” said Collen Sibanda, vice president of the Chimanimani Tourism Association (CTA).
“Zimparks are recruiting people. They are organizing these unions.”
Lenny Kwaramba told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that he had been mining in the mountains without a license since March.
“I thought it was legal because we were working with the rangers,” said Kwaramba, whose name was changed to protect his identity.
“They gave us a target, we would sell around 40 grams of gold per day,” he continued, explaining that when the miners came down the mountain, the rangers would take the gold and pay them in US dollars.
That was until August, when the army and the police fanned out to help the park rangers evict the miners.
“I had to run for my life,” Kwaramba said. “They were shooting at us. Some (miners) were injured and others are missing.”
Zimparks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo said the authority was investigating allegations that park rangers had something to do with illegal gold mining.
“We have heard such reports. We are currently investigating the allegations,” he said in a telephone interview.
“We call on (everyone) to submit any evidence that our officials are involved. We want to make sure we protect these forests for the benefit of future generations.”
There are no official data on the number of illegal gold miners in the Chimanimani Mountains, but authorities note that across the country their ranks have increased in recent years.
As Zimbabwe experiences its worst economic crisis in a decade, with crippling hyperinflation and unemployment, young people are venturing into illegal gold mining in an attempt to make a living.
Gold panning at Chimanimani is primarily small-scale and informal, according to a 2016 research article from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London.
The document estimated that artisanal gold panning production in the area from 2007 to 2011 was between 600 and 900 kg per year, with less than half of that amount officially recorded.
SACRED PLACES
The latest census data shows that some 135,000 people live in the area around the Chimanimani Mountains, on the border of Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
That population, made up of several indigenous communities, is still recovering from last year’s Cyclone Idai, which caused $ 622 million in damage, mainly in the Chimanimani and Chipinge districts, according to government officials.
And now, the locals say, they also have to endure the ecological impacts of illegal mining.
Pierini from BirdLife Zimbabwe said mountains are an important watershed with ecologically sensitive wetlands that provide most of the water used by communities in the valleys below.
“With a changing climate, as a result of Cyclone Idai last year and the drought conditions this year, mining in the Chimanimani Mountains represents an ecological catastrophe,” he said in emailed comments.
“If it is not stopped permanently, it will certainly pave the way for another humanitarian crisis,” he added.
As they follow the gold belt, miners drain springs, excavate river beds and cut caves, Pierini said.
Its activity fills the water with sediment, making it unfeasible for marine life and largely unusable by people, he noted.
Miners also use chemicals such as mercury and cyanide to separate gold from ore and soil, leaving people and wildlife downstream with highly toxic water, said Chief Raymond Saurombe, leader of the Chikukwa village in Chimanimani.
“For a chief to be respected, one must have his dams, caves and springs,” he explained.
“Now that all of these are being invaded by miners, we will soon be left with nothing. These holy places are what give us recognition as chiefs.”
MINING PROHIBITION
In response to the rise in illegal mining along riverbeds across the country, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told a cabinet press conference in September that, with a few exceptions, “all mining alluvial and river bed is prohibited with immediate effect. “
For the past several years, the Zimbabwean government has attempted to register all small-scale artisanal miners, but critics say the lack of implementation means the number of illegal miners continues to grow.
As the cabinet works to create policies to make mining in the country more sustainable, Mutsvangwa said it has resolved to also ban authorized mining activities in the country’s national parks.
National parks are protected by law, but those protections are sometimes overridden to grant mining rights to large companies, explained Simiso Mlevu, communications officer for the Center for Natural Resource Governance, an advocacy group.
More than 15 mining licenses have been granted in national parks across the country over the past decade, Mlevu said via WhatsApp.
Vice Minister of Mines Polite Kambamura said that small miners should register their mining activities to make sure they follow proper mining standards and do not harm the environment.
“It is a punishable offense for someone to mine without registration. In addition to poor mineral accountability and environmental damage, proper mining standards are not being followed in these areas,” he said on WhatsApp.
Since law enforcement officers evicted illegal miners from the Chimanimani Mountains in August, local communities have had a respite from the gold rush.
But as long as miners continue to be drawn to the area, Chief Saurombe fears that the famous legends and mysteries of the mountains are under threat.
“We have our holy places that include mermaid dams and caves in the mountains. These holy places are important to us,” he said.
Please give credit to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers the lives of people around the world struggling to live freely or justly.
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