EXTRACTIVES IN ZIMBABWE

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As a coping strategy, Eggie now grows some of the herbs and local varieties of beans one of which is called “ndodzi’ and a small grain similar to rye called “uninga” in and around her homestead. It is important to note that some of the maize Eggie grows is the purple indigenous type, whose existence is threatened by the rampant pollution taking place. She also cooks her food with the indigenous tomatoes locally known as “magwederesi.” Two unripe varieties are shown below; your worksites and you get trapped inside, we won’t make any effort to rescue you because you don’t want to work in the maize fields for your families as decent women do. Mai Jessie said she had since got used to the chiding and was not worried about it. She was quick to acknowledge however that she was not getting enough money from the gold panning to fully support her family such that her daughter in Grade 4 had not been going to school for two terms since she could not raise the school levies required. However, the youngest child, a boy in Grade 2 was still going to school as her husband insisted that they at least try and raise the fees for him being a boy. Despite the clear environmental degradation blamed on illegal gold mining, Mai Jessie feels it has given her a source of livelihood. 6 Maria (Mai Jessie) Dhliwayo Maria Dhliwayo who only has primary education is married to Kefas Dhliwayo and the couple has 9 children of which 2 are still minors. They also have three grandchildren born of their eldest son and two daughters. The son is working in South Africa while one daughter is married to a pastor of a Pentecostal church and the other is a single parent working in a hair salon at the local Kurwaisimba Business Centre. Maria has been criticized heavily by her in-laws and neighbours because she has decided to abandon farming and engage in gold panning on a full time basis. This has resulted in her fields lying fallow year in and year out as she chases the elusive tiny pieces of gold in the local rivers. Her husband, a retired worker from the local timber industries is a psychiatric patient, who cannot be expected to work in the fields. In an interview with her, Maria confirmed that her marital family and fellow gold panners were ostracizing her since good wives were expected to stay at home, tilling the fields and she had broken these social barriers by engaging in mining. She said she had never really been interested in farming from the time she had been married as her husband, who was then gainfully employed, would pay labourers to till their fields. Her husband when on annual leave would also till the fields while she cooked for the family. Now that he was a psychiatric patient, he was unemployed and always felt too lethargic to work in the fields due to the effect of the drugs he took for the medical problem. She also confirmed as true a rumor to the effect that male gold panners at Chiambuka River had recently chided her and Mwatsara. Another woman gold panner using words to the effect; You women go back home and till the fields. Why do you involve yourselves in men’s work. If there is a landslide at Mildred Gamu nee Dhliwayo Mildred aged 48 years is a widow with 8 children. Widowed more than 8 years previously, Mildred who married young raised her children from proceeds gained from selling her farm produce. While Mildred is involved in the unregulated gold panning taking place in the local rivers, she is adamant that given a choice she would rather be farming than mining since the negative impacts from mining outweighs the positive gains. She however spoke of an incident which had happened years earlier when a gold nugget she unearthed had earned her approximately US$1 200. She felt however that the middlemen who bought gold from the panners were short changing them as they bought the gold at very low prices and re-sold it at high profit margins. Despite this once-off incident in her gold panning career, during the farming season, Mildred abandons her mining activities and concentrates on farming. In an interview with her she also was not happy that her sister in law Maria was focusing on mining and abandoning farming. She had this to say; I have always pinned my hopes on farming, which to me is my first priority as it is a more reliable source of livelihood than gold panning. I have always harvested far much more maize than my domestic requirements, which surplus I sell to other locals. I find it extremely hard to respect my sisterin-law, mai Jessie, who leaves her fields to lie fallow while she pans for gold on full time basis.In a follow up interview, Mildred proceeded to say; Mai Jessie is something else. She pans for gold even during the farming season and expects me to give her my maize for free when she comes begging for it. Should I suffer for her foolishness simply because she is married to my brother? She behaves like a male gold panner, whose sole field are the gold fields but come harvest time, she will be borrowing, begging or buying maize from fellow villagers who never give up farming, despite the irresistible pull from the gold fields. Compiled by Organisations in the Platform on Gender and Extractives
Gender and Extractives in Zimbabwe A collection of stories of women and their experiences Mwatsara Beta Mwatsara Beta originally from the neighbouring Mozambique is aged 51 years. At the young age of 16 years, she got customarily married to a Zimbabwean with whom she had five children who all died in infancy before her husband also died. Her husband’s relatives accused her of being a witch and blamed her for her husband and children’s death. The relatives chased her from the rural home near Chipinge town after which Mwatsara being homeless went to live at the long distance bus terminus in Chipinge town. It was while living at the terminus that she heard of the gold rush in Ngorima communal lands, approximately 50 km away. She decided to join in and has been panning for gold for several years, living in a shack at the local business centre. Mwatsara concedes that the unregulated mining has wrecked havoc on the formerly pristine environment but she cannot think of any other option besides mining. She usually wakes up at 4 am to prepare food to eat before leaving for the mining fields at 5 am. She spends the day trudging back and forth with sacks full of river sand to wash in muddied waters in search of gold grains or nuggets. She usually leaves the mining fields at 5 pm and gets home around 5:30pm where she prepares her food and sleeps around 7pm. In an interview Mwatsara confirmed her encounter with the male gold panners who ridiculed her and other women for engaging in “men’s work.” Below is a picture of Mwatsara gold panning in Chiambuka River which has become heavily silted and is now a mere trickle. Mwatsara in the picture below carries a sack of river sand to wash for gold, while other panners work in the background. Chiambuka River is now but a mere trickle of its former glory. While it is acknowledged that the scenario in Ngorima Communal Lands is that of mining carried out illegally, the whole problem arose as a result of a gap left by ZMDC when they abandoned their mining venture owing to non-viability of the project. The question is whether in terms of section 99 of the Environmental Management Act Chapter 20:27 any Mwatsara in the picture above carries a sack of river sand to wash for gold, while other panners work in the background. Chiambuka River is now but a mere trickle of its former glory. Environmental Impact Assessment was conducted prior to ZMDC’s mining venture and if it was indeed conducted, whether the local communities were consulted on this crucial issue impacting on their lives in a significant manner. Interviews with members of the Dhliwayo family and the local Headman Hlabiso revealed that no such consultations for purposes of assessing environmental impact had been done. This case story also reveals the importance of having gender and social impact assessments in addition to the EIA as this clearly reveals the differential impacts on women and men emanating from mining. It is also important that before any mining project is implemented, the proposed or new land use patterns be tested for sustainability as compared to land use patterns already in place especially in areas located within Agricultural Region 1 renowned for above average rainfall and fertile soils. It would be a misconception to assert that gold mining or artisanal mining per se is bad since it has been an alternative source of livelihood for the rural poor in most African countries and a passport out of endemic poverty associated with rural communities. Rather it is when the mining is undertaken in an area best suited for agro-based development and under unregulated conditions leading to environmental degradation and other health risks that the liabilities arising from it have out-weighed any benefits that might accrue. As quoted by Mambondiyani A. (2008:3) 3 the then Minister of Environment and Tourism, Francis Nhema who also chaired the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in 2008 stated that; We have collectively come to the conclusion that the environmental costs emanating from panning activities far outweigh the benefits accruing to the panners…the country’s economic success hinges on economically viable and environmentally sustainable policies. Headman Hlabiso and most of the women interviewed during research were of the view that given the working capital, it would pose no problem to mobilise local communities to purchase trees from the Forestry Commission for replanting in areas where the trees had been cut down by gold panners. Headman Hlabiso was also of the view that the sentences passed by magistrates for illegal gold mining were aimed only at retribution which did not benefit the wronged community. He stated that in line with the customary law approach aimed at rehabilitating the offender as well as compensation to the wronged party, it would augur well with the local community if all locals engaged in illegal gold mining could have their sentences wholly suspended on condition they performed community service in their home area, reclaiming land degraded by illegal gold panners and replanting trees (the court would estimate the maximum area which each offender would reclaim in accordance with the seriousness of his gold panning offence). 7 3 Mambondiani, A. (2008) Zimbabwe’s Desperate Miners Ravage the Land. Environment 360 Available at http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2078 Accessed 03/12/2017 Compiled by Organisations in the Platform on Gender and Extractives
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EXTRACTIVES IN ZIMBABWE

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