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Govt must enforce legislation to safeguard environment

ENVIRONMENT issues that hit headlines in 2022 included scary reports such as that some women with babies strapped on their backs engaged in panning for alluvial gold along the crocodile-infested Mazowe River.

There were also reports of rampant cutting of trees in Hurungwe for tobacco curing activities, while in Hwange, Matabeleland North province, there were reports of miners engaged in illegal environmental activities, some which were even so scary that Zimbabwe heard that coal fires were burning from underground in Hwange.

Environmental laws

Despite that the country has regulations and laws to curb environmental hazards, it is implementation that has been very weak. The country continues to experience rampant sand poaching, deforestation and illegal mining.

The year 2022 recorded quite a number of reports of illegal environmental activities, some which included Chinese investors, who were cited as some of the worst environmental violators.

Illegal artisanal gold mining activities were also on the increase despite law enforcement agencies such as the police and the Environmental Management Agency (Ema) having made several attempts to clamp down on the illegal activities.

Last year, government crafted Statutory Instrument (SI) 104 of 2021 Environmental Management (Control of Alluvial Mining) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 (No 2), which regulated mining operations in the country, but environmental illegalities continued unabated.

Chinese miners

Throughout the year, Chinese mining companies were accused of causing environmental and infrastructural degradation in the country, leaving trails of open pits which are now death traps for humans and livestock in areas that they were operating from.

In Marange, Manicaland province, Chiadzwa villagers are resisting eviction to pave way for diamond mining by Chinese company, Anjin Investments. In Hwange, Dinde villagers fought government over a proposed coal mining project by Chinese mining company, Beifa Investments, as they feared displacement and the effects on their environment.

In Mutoko, dozens of families are reportedly facing eviction to pave way for a granite mining venture by Chinese company, Jinding Mining Zimbabwe. The Mutoko community fears noise pollution due to granite blasting activities, and dust emission.

Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Guo Shaochun claimed that Chinese mining companies enjoyed good relations with their workers, adding that these were just allegations to discredit their investments in the country.

“Most Chinese employers keep good relationships with local workers. The embassy’s position is clear that all Chinese companies are encouraged to do more for local people and must comply with the laws, regulations, culture and customs of the host country. Wrongdoers must be held accountable,” Guo said.

Despite that big mining companies continue to dodge responsibility, abandoned gold shafts in residential areas have become a permanent feature in places such as Kwekwe, Hwange, and Nyanga North, among many others.

These abandoned mineshafts by big mining companies have now been taken over by illegal gold panners, some of who were buried underground after the shafts collapsed.

Environmental experts are concerned

The effects of environmental degradation due to illegal mining activities in gold-rich communities throughout the year are a grave concern for environmentalists who say rehabilitation of the damaged environment over the years would be costly for the country.

The environmentalists have warned that if urgent action is not taken to end environmental degradation, it would be disastrous.

In a statement, the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) blamed lack of enforcement of environmental laws, saying it has led to land degradation in the country.

“The rights group castigated poor implementation and enforcement of laws coupled with poor policies, saying this is a major setback towards achievement of a healthy environment in the country.

“The calls come as Zimbabwe has over the past years been recording increased cases of land degradation caused by locals in the mining sector and some of the Chinese investors involved in the same field,” the Zela statement read.

Environmentalist Tafadzwa Muvezwa said: “We have a lot of environmental crimes in the country mainly due to weak laws in the country. Individuals need to be educated on these laws so that they are aware of the dangers.”

Centre for Natural Resource Governance director Farai Maguwu said the mining industry had continued to cause environmental degradation, mainly due to corruption and inadequate monitoring of mining activities by government.

“There are two types of crimes that occur in the mining sector. The first one is the illicit financial flows (IFFs) which basically involve a stream of criminal activities, namely, tax avoidance — where they try by all means to get mineral resources out of the country without even paying taxes. Secondly, there is invoicing where they do pay some form of tax but they under value the resources that they are taking out of the country.

“Forms of crime are environmental crimes where mining companies are no longer adhering to the environmental laws and policies of Zimbabwe. They just dig and dump toxic waste in a manner that puts the lives of people at risk. We have companies that leave open pits, and people and cattle are dying. Some are even drowning on water bodies that develop in those pits.

“In Hwange, the underground coal fires are creating a lot of problems yet we have laws that prevent those things from happening. Environmental laws are no longer being adhered to. Like in the case of Marange, we have companies that say it’s actually cheaper to pollute and pay the fine rather than to do what is necessary to prevent the pollution itself,” Maguwu said.

He blamed Ema for failing to enforce environmental laws citing politicisation of the mining sector.

“There is lack of enforcement and why is an organisation like Ema failing to enforce environmental laws? It’s mainly because of politicisation, militarisation and securitisation of mining, whereby there are a lot of powerful people who are now the godfathers of these mining companies. There are silent partners of mining companies. Ema has been disempowered from doing its job because of the thin line between government officials and the private sector.”

Ema response

But Ema spokesperson Amkela Sidange said: “Basically, what I can say is that this is their own opinion, usually opinions are not facts. Looking at the Environmental Management Act that we enforce as an agency, this law actually gives each and every citizen a right to participate in the enforcement of environmental laws. Law enforcement starts with all of us, one way or the other so that we prevent degradation and pollution. So we all have a role.”

Sidange said the organisation was making efforts to ensure that environmental crimes were curbed by creating law enforcement units across the country.

“Law enforcement comes with our own behaviour, in other words we cannot precisely say there is lack of law enforcement. So, we are promoting environmental stewardship which means working on individual change,” she said.

“Throughout the year, we have a specific department for law enforcement and we have made efforts to ensure that environmental crimes are curbed. Currently we have an environmental law enforcement unit which is dedicated to law enforcement.”

Parliament on environment issues

This year, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development raised concern over gold smuggling and the general chaotic state of Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector, which has also caused environmental degradation.

Mines Portfolio Committee chairperson Edmund Mkaratigwa said: “There has been proliferation of illegal mining sites, the setting up of unregistered hammer mills, unregistered gold buyers and many others.

There seems to be no solution in sight towards addressing all these challenges and there has been extensive damage to the environment due to these illegal mining operations.”

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