Zimbabwe teachers join night-time gold rush

In a startling development highlighting Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis, teachers from Fusira, Musvovi, and Madzivanyika schools in Masvingo South have reportedly joined illegal gold panning activities at night in Mudemba Village, Ward 27. The educators, struggling to survive on meagre salaries, have been seen sneaking off to mining sites after school hours and returning before dawn to resume their official duties.

The area is currently gripped by a gold rush that has already seen 17 people arrested and hauled before the courts on charges of illegal prospecting without a license.

Sources familiar with the situation told this publication that teachers are among the locals engaging in clandestine mining in a desperate attempt to supplement their incomes.

"Teachers from surrounding schools have joined the illegal mining, but they come at night and return in the morning," said a source familiar with the situation.

The growing participation of professionals in illegal mining is seen as a reflection of Zimbabwe’s deepening economic turmoil, where stagnant wages and skyrocketing inflation have forced many into side hustles to survive.

Masvingo South Member of Parliament, Tanatsiwa Mukomberi, confirmed receiving reports about the involvement of teachers and other villagers in illegal mining activities. He urged locals to follow proper procedures when seeking to benefit from natural resources.

"I have received a report of people who have been arrested over illegal mining in Ward 27 where there is a gold rush. Villagers, while they are entitled to the natural resources in their areas, should do the proper procedures and register their claims as required by the government," Mukomberi said.

Mukomberi also took aim at authorities for allowing outsiders to exploit local resources while sidelining the very communities living in the affected areas.

"Each place has its own God-given resources, and so the people in that area must benefit from that. It is not fair to have people from afar claim entitlement over resources in an area while locals do not benefit. In this case, the area in which there is a gold rush was allegedly given to someone else who holds an EPO (Exclusive Prospecting Order), and nothing was done about it. Now locals are desperate," he said.

Several locals have been arrested, with some being fined for minor offenses like transporting mining equipment, while others are facing court appearances on more serious charges.

Community members who spoke to this publication said they are appealing to authorities to allocate official mining claims to locals so they can lawfully benefit from the gold in their own area.

"If authorities can peg a community block for locals to mine, it will reduce these arrests and allow us to make an honest living," said one villager.

The situation in Masvingo South paints a broader picture of economic despair where even those in professions once viewed as stable are being forced into risky and illegal activities to survive.