Fast flowing, deep and great rivers you would not dare to put your feet to test the waters and attempt crossing.  The dense forests that make you think twice before taking a step.  Home of biodiversity where the fittest can survive and no tolerance for the weak, species have to maneuver a tactic in order to survive the lovely and harsh habitat.  Fast forward in time, what are in front of me are just small shallower ponds and a small stream flowing in the middle of accumulated sand stores.  The sparse vegetation is what my eyes can see and no longer scary but actually tempting. Can we take a pause and figure out what happened?

Developing countries are caught up in either dilemmas or opportunity costs decisions, serve people or save the environment.  In Zimbabwe the government issued mining licenses to small scale miners and mining interested individuals in a bid to raise the economy of Zimbabwe.  The economic hardships over the years gave others no choice other than to mine in the riverbanks for alluvial gold. The mining usually take use of mercury which is hazardous to health and the environment.  This resulted in the destruction of rivers and the life living in the waters. 

Mazowe River is one of the great rivers in Mashonaland Central that is also not left from the actions by economic fortune seekers.  The river serves the people alongside its river banks through fishing, town’s water supply source and as an irrigation water source.  As a main river in its river network it is depends on its tributaries which are heavily threatened by the mining activities along their banks.  The tributaries are now supplying the Mazowe River with sand from siltation and the mercury traces and it seems blink for the people and animals down the river that depend on the river.  It comes at cost for Bindura Municipality and other councils to purify the water for consumption, farmers’ harvests have been affected and the fishermen resort to more exploitative fishing methods in order to have a steadily supply of their commodity to the market.  

It is not only Mazowe River catchment area that is affected by these mining activities but the whole of Zimbabwe is shaking from this invited threat.  They stop at no cost to destroy the environment in their way when there is a gold belt in that direction.  No vegetation gullies and dongas are the result of the unrestricted mining where humans and animals fall traps to these long avoidable manmade traps.  “We are co-authors of our own misfortune”, said PLO Lumumba and with this rate of vegetation destruction for so called economic growth we are digging graves for ourselves.

On the 8^th of September 2020, Minister Sen. Monica Mutsvangwa during a cabinet briefing she told the public about resolutions held during the cabinet.  The resolutions were the banning of all mining along the river banks, banning of mining in the National Parks and Game Reserves and also banning of mining without environment clearance from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).  It was unwelcomed by some economists as it included banning of coal mining in the Hwange National Park by a multi-million dollar firm but by the environmental lawyers it was welcomed as it protect the national heritage.  What we hope for is enforcement of these passed resolutions as they seem to help to protect the country.

See beyond the horizon, within short time it may look lucrative but in the long run it is comes with a burden.  We can restore what we had through long term commitments and collective actions. Let us make the world a better place for me and you.  Wait for Part Two (2) article on the full assessment of the passed cabinet resolutions.

 

THE REFERENCES

1.       All Africa (Online Source) https://allafrica.com/stories/201912120190.html

2.       Analysis: Why the Government Relented, Shingai Nyoka, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54085549

3.       Illegal gold miners wreak havoc in Mazowe, https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-176246.html

4.       “Gold panning destroys Mazowe River”, The Herald Online, https://www.herald.co.zw/gold-panning-destroys-mazowe-river/

5.       ZBC News Online, https://www.zbcnews.co.zw/bindura-water-supply-cut-as-artisanal-miners-clog-source/#:~:text=Rampant%20artisanal%20mining%20activities%20along,and%20parts%20of%20Mazowe%20district.&text=Dr%20Nhepera%20described%20the%20disruption,the%20fight%20against%20Covid%2019