The president of Zimbabwe, E.D Mnangagwa when he was addressing the nation on his inaugural speech advocated for more mining than agriculture with the bid of increasing the country's wealth and develop the economy into a middle class economy by 2030. Would this prove to be sustainable and is the economic development for real? Would we kill the environment for so called 'economic development'?  These are unanswered questions in people's mind of those who care.

In Bindura where I live there's so much damage to the land due to mining. The illegal miners 'makorokoza' there were given permission and allowed to mine at designated areas. The 'makorokoza's were legalised and formalised to be small-scale miners where they are destroying the land through digging pits, poisoning water sources and destroying infrastructure. The insert picture clearly show how the peri-urban farms are being transformed into pits and destruction of wetlands. If we try to imagine the future our tears will flow because the government cannot act but is in a bid to take all this beautiful land from us.

The small scale miners use mercury and cynanide in their mining process which is deadly to the flora and fauna. Cynanide is leading to the death of domestic and wild animals. The wild animals such as hare, bucks and impalas which are inhabitants of the farm lands and the beautiful green lands in Bindura. A threat to the ecosystem while the government fold hands watching in the name of economy building.

It is now time that we as a nation create solutions to the future problem we are facing. The solution we suggested as a environment club is that creating major policies that would bind the small scale miners for post mining maintenance and rehabilitation of the mined land. Taxation cannot solve the crisis but it will act as a fund and reserve to facilitate post mining maintenance problems.