Gold panners descend on Beitbridge village

DOZENS of people have descended on Tshabili village about 100km east of Beitbridge Town where they are engaged in illegal alluvial gold panning on the basin of the Limpopo River.

A Chronicle news crew on Wednesday visited the area on which the illegal gold panning activities are taking place.

The shafts dug by panners had, however, been covered by the water from the Limpopo River following heavy rains that pounded the district early this week.

The illegal gold panners, who are reportedly involved in cat-and-mouse game with the police had also temporarily deserted the area and hid in the nearby mountains.

The local village head, Mr Mulimisi Sibanda, said the illegal mining activities had been going on for the past three weeks.

He said the illegal gold panners, a majority of them from Zvishavane, were first spotted by some local villagers who were herding their cattle along the Limpopo River.

"These gold panners have been engaged in these illegal mining activities for the past three weeks. In fact, they were first seen by local villagers who then alerted me and I in turn informed the local headman," said Mr Sibanda.

He said when he confronted the panners over their illegal activities, they threatened to assault him, arguing that they were Zimbabweans entitled to benefit from the country's natural resources.

"I approached them and asked to see their mining permits and they threatened to beat me saying, 'Nesu tirivana veZimbabwe tinekodzero yekuwana hupfumi hwenyika yedu' (we are Zimbabweans and therefore have a right to benefit from the country's natural resources). However, when I demanded to know why they did not report their presence to the local traditional leadership, they started accusing me of being a tribalist and that is when I called the police," he said.

Mr Sibanda said police have conducted numerous raids in the area, but each time they do so, the gold panners cross into the South African side of the border where they hide in the mountains.

Another local villager, Mr Aaron Ndou said: "The gold panners are involved in cat-and-mouse games with police. The last time police raided the area was on Monday during which they fled and crossed into South Africa. In fact, despite the raids, a day would hardly pass without hearing the noise of the hammers, but this only stopped on Wednesday after heavy rains that resulted in the river flooding."

Local villagers also expressed concern over the latest development, saying they were losing their cattle as they became trapped in the pits dug by the illegal gold panners.

"I lost two beasts after they fell and got trapped in the pits dug by these people and this is an issue of grave concern. We are calling on police to beef up manpower and conduct patrols along the Limpopo River as these people are also causing environmental degradation," said Mr Nthambeleni Ndou.

A policeman stationed at a local police base, said the problem of inadequate resources and manpower hampered their efforts to completely drive away the illegal gold panners from the Limpopo River basin.

"We went there and raided the area and we only managed to arrest a few of the gold panners as the majority fled into South Africa. The major challenge is that these illegal panners keep on shifting from one place to another and again the terrain leading to their areas of operation, is rough and rocky making it inaccessible," said the police officer.

This reporter also observed some temporary structures used by the illegal gold panners, their abandoned cooking utensils, overalls and fireplaces from which they used to prepare their meals.

Efforts to contact, the Masvingo mining district commissioner of mines in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, Mr Charles Phiri, were fruitless as he was said to be out of office. His mobile phone was also not reachable.

However, an official in his office, who declined to be named, said they were not aware of the ongoing illegal mining activities at Tshabili. "We are not aware of any illegal mining activities taking place in that part of Beitbridge district. We will conduct our own investigations," said the official.

Beitbridge East falls under Masvingo mining district. Last year in November, fortune-seekers also descended on the Pondongoma area in Zezani, about 156 km west of Beitbridge following reports that diamonds had been discovered there.

This was after Mr Asim Kasim, a geologist from the Livelihood and Community Development Trust in Zvishavane had been spotted by local villagers prospecting for minerals in the area.

He is reported to have taken some samples from the Sekabunwa Mountains, after indicating that the area was rich in a mineral called aquamarine. Aquamarine is a compound of several minerals.

Mr Kasim had been to the area on four occasions, prompting the fortune seekers to invade the area.