'Dead miners worked for a top polical cartel' Mliswa alleges

Norton Member of Parliament Temba Mliswa has alleged that there is a cartel of politicians who are behind the illegal mining activities that led to the death of miners recently in Mashonaland West.

Mliswa says during his term as Provincial Chairperson he tried to fight the cartel.

Mliswa further appealed to the Zimbabwe Republic Police to question the surviving miners in the Battlefields national disaster on where ther=y were taking the gold to and who brought them to the minefields.

Find Mliswa's full statement below:

Looking back at the Battlefields mine disaster, people mustn't lose focus. Why aren't the politicians involved giving us answers? Minister Chitando needs to tell us why people were allowed to continue working on a mine illegally.

Environment Management Agency and the Ministry of Environment where were you and were the requisite laws and compliances effected? Will you ever answer or is it that everyone is involved in the rotandgold smuggling? When so many deaths occur, shouldn't heads roll?


Eldorado Mine is another mine in the same province that the same has happened and we hear that the illegal makorokoza were brought in through ZANU-PF so who are the ZANUPF politicians behind this in Mashonaland West? As Provincial Chairperson  Ziyambi Ziyambi must answer.

As Minister of Justice, it would appear he's giving protection to people like Musengi and Nduna. These are syndicates I'm aware of during my tenure as Provincial  Chairperson and always fought hard against.

Artisanal miners should be the ones empowered but not for them to be exploited by politicians

The only reason politicians want artisanal mining to continue is so that they can exploit the hapless miners. Why isn't anyone asking the surviving miners who put them there, where were they taking the gold and is it there place legally? Those are the key questions the police should be asking.

If the survivors aren't apprehended for their illegal mining then we're supporting the system. Henrietta Rushwaya, President of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation is well versed in these processes and the politicians involved and as a straight person can tell us the truth

These are the issues that the infiltrators to the Parliamentary Portfolio  Committee on Mines have tried to muzzle me about.