News / National
Artisanal miners wreak havoc at Mazowe mine
18 Mar 2019 at 07:04hrs | Views
Illegal gold miners are reportedly causing havoc at Mazowe mine, popularly known as jumbo mine, by practising illegal mining and causing serious land degradation at the mine after the mine downsized operations due to insolvency.
Part of the management who declined to be named told Bulawayo24.com that the mine is now under care and maintenance with a number of workers joining illegal miners to earn a living.
"The situation at Jumbo is so pathetic as it is now operation at zero percent in as far as Gross Domestic Product is concerned , so many people are now joining some of the artisanal miners who are wreaking havoc at the mine," the source said.
The company retrenched 465 workers without pay last year and is now left with 600 workers who are under maintaining the few remaining infrastructure.
"Last year we retrenched about 465 workers due to insolvency and remained with 600 workers, 200 of them are contract workers and we owe them 6 million hence there is no way they can survive other than practising illegal mining, security was withdrawn after the company failed to pay them chief among them members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police who were protecting the area of late."
On Wednesday the company's two buses, office furniture and other movable goods were auctioned through the sheriff in litigation.
Meanwhile, Local Government,Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo castigated illegal miners at the Mashonaland Central devolution conference held recently in Bindura saying they should legalize their activities or face arrest.
"We hear they are a lot of artisanal miners wreaking havoc in this province these people should formalize their activities and be taxed if failure to do so the police should just arrest them , it is very easy to own a mining claim, the government has a facility to accommodate those who need mining claims," Moyo said.
Part of the management who declined to be named told Bulawayo24.com that the mine is now under care and maintenance with a number of workers joining illegal miners to earn a living.
"The situation at Jumbo is so pathetic as it is now operation at zero percent in as far as Gross Domestic Product is concerned , so many people are now joining some of the artisanal miners who are wreaking havoc at the mine," the source said.
The company retrenched 465 workers without pay last year and is now left with 600 workers who are under maintaining the few remaining infrastructure.
"Last year we retrenched about 465 workers due to insolvency and remained with 600 workers, 200 of them are contract workers and we owe them 6 million hence there is no way they can survive other than practising illegal mining, security was withdrawn after the company failed to pay them chief among them members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police who were protecting the area of late."
On Wednesday the company's two buses, office furniture and other movable goods were auctioned through the sheriff in litigation.
Meanwhile, Local Government,Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo castigated illegal miners at the Mashonaland Central devolution conference held recently in Bindura saying they should legalize their activities or face arrest.
"We hear they are a lot of artisanal miners wreaking havoc in this province these people should formalize their activities and be taxed if failure to do so the police should just arrest them , it is very easy to own a mining claim, the government has a facility to accommodate those who need mining claims," Moyo said.
Source - Simbarashe Sithole
