Walking alongside the banks of the stunning Gairezi River a number of months in the past, the water was clear and cool, tumbling and swirling over pebbles, cascading down rocky outcrops. Sunbirds and waxbills have been foraging in the scrubby banks and the solely sound to be heard was the wind in the bushes and the river speeding alongside.
Never did I think about that the identify of this stunning river could be linked to the gold scourge ravaging our nation.
The gold story in Zimbabwe by no means goes away and it’s not certainly one of enriching the nation, benefitting the neighborhood or constructing colleges, hospital, roads and bridges. The gold story in Zimbabwe is certainly one of self enrichment, smugglers and highly effective cartels at the high and determined individuals sifting by means of the mud and sand at the backside.
There aren’t many locations now the place there aren’t gold hunters: individuals digging alongside river banks, in river beds, in holes, pits and tunnels.
It’s a daunting factor to see the ranges of desperation of individuals: younger youngsters disappearing into unsupported tunnels, ladies with toddlers swirling mud in plastic bowls, males with machetes defending their golden grains.
Experts say that small scale gold miners are offering a direct livelihood to over 1,000,000 Zimbabweans. And they’re at the very backside of the ladder, being paid a pittance by the sellers and elites who management the gold pits, who can dig, and the place, when and how a lot they have to hand over.
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I met a younger girl in her twenties who was a gold panner on a river financial institution and she stated she was solely doing this in order that she may purchase life saving medicines for her mum, who could be lifeless if it wasn’t for the gold she finds. Her fingers have been tough and calloused and she regarded exhausted and far older than her years.
The environmental devastation is huge: pits and holes, gullies and collapsed river banks, big channels gouged out on mountainsides, rivers working purple with mud suffocating the life out of the whole lot.
But these are the scars we will see; it’s the invisible ones which are rather more horrifying – the ones which are in the water: cyanide and mercury.
Last week there was a information report of cyanide in the Rwenya River, which is a tributary of the Gairezi River, which then flows into Mozambique. Cyanide in the water is coming from a Chinese-owned mine outdoors Mutoko and is so rampant that the Mozambique authorities has made a proper grievance to Zimbabwean authorities about cyanide in the Gairezi river.
A veterinary officer in Nyanga stated three cattle had died of cyanide poisoning after ingesting water from the Nyangombe River, the place lifeless fish and frogs have been additionally seen.
(The Standard quotes the MP for Nyanga North confirming the stories] saying: “there is need for government intervention”.
Hmmm, authorities intervention at a time when they’re busy with their very own launch – of gold cash.
Gold cash
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a press assertion asserting the introduction of the ‘Mosi-Oa-Tunya Gold Coin’ which can weigh one troy ounce (31 grams) and have a purity of twenty-two carats.
According to the assertion: “The gold coins will be available for sale to the public from 25 July 2022 in both local currency (ZW$) and United States dollars (US$) (and other foreign currencies) at a price based on the prevailing international price of gold and the cost of production.”
The authorities says the gold cash are supposed to ease the demand for US {dollars} and may be transformed into money and traded regionally and internationally. At the time of writing one gold coin value about US$1 622. The head of the Reserve Bank stated that the gold cash will “enable investors to store value.”
A retailer of worth for who? The girl panning for gold to purchase drugs for her Mum? Civil servants incomes slave wages? The Chinese and their polluting gold mines on Zimbabwean rivers?
In an opinion piece final week TechZim wrote: “We are just purposefully making it easy for smugglers to ship out every single coin should international prices rise enough, which will probably happen with the high inflation rates across the globe likely to lead to the price of gold spiking.”
Godfather syndrome
A 35-page report has simply been launched by the Centre for Natural Resources Governance known as “Zimbabwe’s disappearing gold. The case of Mazowe and Penhalonga.” It’s a chilling learn. It says there are over 5 000 gold pits in Penhalonga which are managed by 5 gold sellers and 1000’s of gold pits in Mazowe additionally managed by only some gold sellers.
The report says that Zimbabwe has “become a huge gold mine with artisanal mining occurring almost everywhere. Incidences of gold-rushes are frequent, chaotic and well-immersed in informality. Gold money amounting to billions of dollars is flowing through a parallel system, outside the formal market, every year and consequently beyond the sanction of the law.”
The report says political elites intentionally saved this sector casual in order that they will ‘harvest’ the gold from artisanal miners. This led to a “Godfather syndrome” which has “powerful individuals with political connections tightly controlling artisanal mining at district and provincial levels.”
This article first appeared on Moneyweb and was republished with permission. Read the authentic article here
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