The ManicaPost
Luke Mafere Post Reporter
The Minister of state for Provincial affairs in Manicaland province Mandi Chimene has called on all artisanal miners to embrace the ‘Vhula Vhala’ campaign that is aimed at preserving the environment.
The call comes amid pleas from various environmental management agencies to all artisanal miners to be sensitive to land, plant and animal rehabilitation as they engage in their mining activities.
“This is a concept that l conceived well before l was the Minister of State for this province having noted the rampant land degradation that goes with artisanal mining activities. I sold the idea to the miners and they embraced it but now it appears they have abandoned it,” said Minister Chimene.
She further stressed that the idea of the “Vhula Vhala” also went further to encourage the miners to plant trees around the areas that they would have mined thereby replacing the plant life that would have been destroyed during the mining activities.
“The idea as I came up with it was meant to also aid the miners themselves as they would have covered their tracks considering that in some areas they are engaged in illegal mining. It is like covering the evidence of the illegal activities,” she said.
She added that it was a fact that the law enforcement agents were overwhelmed as the number of illegal miners rise everyday making it important to sit down with them and find lasting solutions that can harness their product into the mainstream economy instead of having continued running battles with them.
“The situation we have is that similar to that of a farmer and baboon. It is not sustainable as the miners disperse for a while only to return once they know that the law enforcement agents are gone. This raises the need for other ways of addressing this problem hence reaching out to the miners and encouraging them to formalise,” said Minister Chimene.
