By Nathan Guma
MINES Minister Winston Chitando has told Parliament that government was making progress in formalizing informal mining activity, but civic society organisation, the Center for Research and Development (CRD) says there is no political will to stop politically-connected elites from milking mineral proceeds from artisanal and small-scale miners.
Civic society organisations have been calling on the government to regulate artisanal and small-scale miners, amid indications that they have been a vital cog in mineral production.
In 2023, Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) Chief Executive Officer Wellington Takavarasha said small-scale and artisanal miners contributed 65.5% out of 35.38 tonnes produced in 2022.
The statistic has gradually increased since then.
However, on May 23 in Parliament, while responding to Zanu PF proportional representation MP for Masvingo Lindrose Maunganidze’s question on the progress made to formalise artisanal and small-scale miners, Chitando said the government is implementing a raft of measures.
“As things stand, artisanal and small-scale miners contribute a very significant percentage as far as gold production is concerned, and to some extent, chrome production as well,” Chitando said. “Now getting back to the specific question, there are two mechanisms which, Mr. Speaker
Sir, I wish to comment firstly in terms of the artisanal and small-scale miners, there are three initiatives which Government has embarked on.
“The first initiative is through Fidelity Printers which entitles artisanal and small-scale miners to get loan facilities from Fidelity Refiners. The second initiative which has been going on for some time is the Mining Industry Loan Fund, which is administered through the Ministry of Mines. It involves funds which small-scale miners apply to get access to it.”
Chitando said the government has launched a gold mobilisation exercise, headed by teams that will visit mining sites across the county to check and to ensure that all extracted minerals go to Fidelity through the proper channels.
However, CRD director James Mupfumi said there is no political will to formalise artisanal mining as politically-connected people have adopted a mining model in which they contract artisanal miners to reduce operational costs.
“There is no political will at all,” Mupfumi told The NewsHawks. “You see, there are desperate young boys getting to these dangerous pits, mine gold for them, circumvent legal processes.
The miners do not pay taxes, they do not abide by environmental laws, and they get the gold by destroying the environment, disrupting communities.
“You see, so mining is taking place everywhere in Zimbabwe and it’s not accountable to anyone except to syndicates that are controlled by these political elites. So when they talk of gold mobilization, it is not gold mobilization for the country. The gold is coming directly to them, and that gold is not accountable to government, to fidelity. Very little is going to fidelity with the kind of mining that is taking place.”
Mupfumi said the government has also shown limited political will to regulate the mining industry through failure resuscitate crucial Bills on mining which had upon dissolution of the 9th Parliament in August last year.
Mupfumi said he had hoped that the government would resuscitate crucial amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act, Gold Trade Act, Precious Stones Act and formulation of a policy on rare earth minerals, in the 10th Parliament, to plug the mineral leakages.
Zimbabwe has been operating without a national policy on the trade on gemstones such as ruby, sapphire, emerald, which leaves room for illicit financial flows in the gemstone sector.
The country mines more than 30 semi-precious stones, most which are extracted by informal foreign prospectors from India, Mozambique and other countries.
However, only amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act have been reintroduced into the 10th Parliament.
“Principally, we had expected to see the tabling of the Mines and Minerals Act, the bill, leading to a new Mines and Minerals Act that was going to address some of these issues, accompanied an amended pressure stones bill act and then the gold trade act,” he said.
“We were anticipating that those accompanying laws were to be revised and then those gaps
closed. Which gaps are we talking of? We are talking of issues of leakages, issues of formalizing the artisanal miners to ensure that their mining operations are within the confines of the law and the gold value chain will result in government exploiting, receiving the much needed gold and revenue from the mining of gold in Zimbabwe. So that has not yet happened. And we are now into the first session of the 10th Parliament.”
According to press reports, politically-linked elites have been minting money through the Gold Incentives Scheme (GIS), which has largely been benefitting politically connected people, mainly President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s close ally Pedzisayi “Scott” Sakupwanya, and his Better Brands Jewellery (BBJ) company.
While a delivery of 20kg of gold within a period of 30 days would be eligible for a 5% incentive, a tonne 7% and one to three tonnes 9%, artisanal miners who then spoke to The NewsHawks said they were receiving between one to 1.5% from the gold incentives, with some getting nothing at all.
In 2021, the company pocked US$460 million in revenues at the expense of artisanal and small- scale miners.
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