ZISO condemns eviction of artisanal miners at Kitsiyatota in Bindura

Zimbabwe Informal Sector's Organization (ZISO) condemns the inhumane eviction of artisanal miners at Kitsiyatota in Bindura on the26thJune 2015 by members of the police Support Unit. The knee jerk evictions carried out without prior notice has created a humanitarian crisis in Bindura as hundreds of miners from outside  Bindura  have  being left stranded after being forced  to abandon  their  gold ore  at the mercy of Zanu PF bigwigs who control the mining  activities at Kitsiyatota. The crackdown was brutal that desperate miners, who were not given a chance to wind up the operations by the merciless riot police, ended up selling their mining equipment like generators for as low as $5 just to enable them to travel to their respective homes.

There are fears that crime rate will increase in the town as the stranded miners, who are struggling to raise money for bus fares to return to their homes and, are slowly turning the area around  Oval Canteen in Bindura town  into a squatter settlement, will resort to criminal activities just to make ends meet. The move highlights government`s determination to decimate the very informal sector they encouraged through the ill-advised indigenization and empowerment policy. The mining activities which were being done under Women in Mining were sanctioned by the First Lady Grace Mugabe when she visited the province during her "Meet the People rallies"

ZISO suspects that there may be underlying political dynamics related to the internal ZANU PF implosion and, on the one hand a paranoid government so frightened of an uprising that may arise as a result of its failure to fulfill its constitutional obligations and electoral promise to create employment for its citizens thus has resorted to decimate any form organized gathering by people making an honest living.

However ZISO urges the government to immediately stop its phobic attitude towards the informal sector and halt its crackdown on players in the sector in particular artisanal miners at Kitsiyatota. The government should mistreat its citizens within the informal sector but should be thankful and embrace players in the sector as they have assisted a serial clueless government by creating employment for themselves, in the wake of its dismal failure to fulfill the 2 million job electoral promise.

ZISO recommends the government and the authorities in Bindura to immediately ensure that:-

All miners who were forced to abandon their gold ore be allowed to remove it for milling.
Depolitize mining activities at Kitsiyatota and allow a manageable number of artisanal miners regardless of political affiliation to continue with their operations.

The Ministry of Mines immediately decentralize its operations to the province and assist artisanal miners to acquire prospecting licenses and register their operations

The Ministry of Mines and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA )undertake urgent environmental impact assessment exercise to make sure that all mining activities in the province are done within the confines of the law.

The Ministry of Social Welfare assist desperate miners currently camped at the area around Oval Canteen with transport to return to respective homes.