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Leroy Dzenga and Talent Gore Features Writers —
Time and again, a craze emerges within Zimbabwe, summoning notoriety and igniting the curiosity of many. In Hatcliffe Extension, about 20 kilometres northeast of Harare, alluvial gold panners, desperate for the mineral, have invaded a sewer stream to sift through the soils from a nearby gold field.

Seemingly unknown to Harare dwellers, the gold panners have invaded Hatcliffe’s new residential area, inspiring hundreds to embark on a cross country journey.

Around June last year, 40-year-old mother of five Flora Mudakera relocated from Zvishavane to Harare in search of brighter prospects.

She set up her base in the Hatcliffe Extension area, staying in a rented temporary structure since her options were limited to low cost housing.

“When I came from Zvishavane, I was expecting to get a job and sustain my family. However, things did not turn out the way I expected,” she said.

After about four months of hardship, the gold rush at a farm close to the area raised her hopes of a fairy-tale ending to her Harare experience.

“I was surviving on menial jobs until October last year when I heard that there was gold at a farm known as kwaJeffrey.

“We followed the trek to the ‘gold-fields’ to try our luck,” Mudakera said.

Her instinct to jump on the gold bandwagon paid off; luck was on her side as the findings were profitable.

“When we joined others at the claims on the farm we suddenly started making good money.

“One particular day I made close to $100. Any other day, I would not go home with less than $30,” she said.

The thriving gold panning environment attracted hundreds from across Zimbabwe.

“People have come from as far as Binga for the gold and in a short space of time the numbers swelled.

“Stand owners with temporary structures, made extra money by offering accommodation to the panners,” Mudakera said.

With water sources at the goldfields scarce, the panners turned to the stream to clean the soils for gold nuggets.

This would see the miners spending the night going into mine shafts, collecting sackfuls of alluvial soil and transporting them to the stream for sifting.

The occasional encounters with nuggets of gold inspired various “service providers” including food vendors, transporters, and buyers and the despised prostitutes.

Residents also talk of increased criminal activities.

The area has been turned into an unofficial mining settlement.

Like any viral phenomenon, police moved and everything came to a halt.

“In mid-December, armed police officers came with dogs and cordoned the place off. We have not been able to access the farm since then,” said Mudakera.

In the absence of the precious mineral, desperation has set in, the panners have resorted to the residue for traces of gold from earlier activities.

From “mining” the alluvial from the farm, rinsing it in the sewer stream, to desperate re-sifting of the residue, the miners are getting little joy.

“Now that the area is under heavy guard, we have returned to the stream for any small amounts of gold,” she said.

From a minimum of $30 a day before the police blitz, Mudakera said, the heavens would have smiled brightly if one gets a paltry $3.

“Had you visited before the police came, you would have mistaken this place for a popular leisure spot,” she said.

Ever since the farm, known as kwaJeff or McKnown, was declared a no go area, the panners are now living in squalor.

Lovemore Chademba (33) travelled from Chidodo area in Mashonaland Central Province in September after word of the gold rush reached his family.

The idea of providing a better life for his young wife and child capsized and he finds himself stranded in the muddy Hatcliffe Extension area.

“Things used to be smooth but recent weeks have proven to be tough,” he said.

Chademba now avoids phone calls from his family since he has no money to buy groceries for them.

“My mother has been asking when I am going to return home but I cannot afford to go home because times are hard.

“I have since stopped answering her calls,” he said.

His heartbreak came when his mother-in-law died and he could not travel home to console his young wife.

“Ask everyone here, my wife lost her mother and I could not travel to Guruve for her burial.

“As their son-in-law I should have been active in the funeral logistics but as you can see, my hands are tied,” said Chademba.

With prospects diminishing, Chademba and his colleagues face destitution.

“I haven`t had a decent meal in more than two weeks. We wait for the food vendors to sell us leftovers.

“We buy them at 50 cents a plate and because of the challenges here more than four people have to share the meal,” he said.

Some of the panners, Chademba said, clean food vendors’ pots for a meal.

Chademba’s plight is shared by other middle-aged men and women who travelled in search of the profitable pebbles.

One food vendor, Mai Noma, running a makeshift takeaway in the area, confirmed the looming crisis.

“These people used to spend money, (and) in a single day they would spend about $30 but things have changed we barely make sales these days,” she said.

She said during their glory days, miners would blow their findings on food and drinks.

“If you had come in the evening you would have seen how much people are struggling for food. Some beg to clean our pots so that they can eat,” she said.

Travelling miners who do not have permanent dwellings ask to sleep below their braai stands.

In extreme cases, some sleep on the ground without blankets or cover.

There has also been an upsurge of criminal activities since the police clampdown.

Another food vendor, Nomatter, said there was a lot of desperation among the panners.

“This is probably a result of desperation as some travelled from as far as Mutoko to search for a better life,” she said.

Nomater said female panners have turned to prostitution to make ends meet.

She also fears that the area could have a diseases break out.

School children from the area had traded the pencil for the shovel spending their days knee deep in the sewer effluent for gold.

A mother who refused to be named said she would have preferred her child to be in school but she does not have the money to do so.

“No parent wants to see their child becoming a gold panner,” she said.

The miners also claimed that corruption was also rife.

They claimed that some law enforcement agents are charging people $10 to get a sack of alluvial soils mud from the farm but did not supply further evidence.

Harare North MP Tongesai Mudambo had no kind words for the panners.

He said the panners should have returned to their homes as soon as their operations were stopped.

“We want to help these people, but they need to understand that it takes time to fix things. No one told them to camp in waiting,” he said.

Mr Mudambo maintained that he will not be pressured into aiding illegal operations.

“Those who are claiming that I am doing nothing to help the panners do not know what they are talking about,” he said.

The legislator said the Environmental Management Agency had asked that the pits be filled.

One panner died last year with efforts to retrieve his body from one of the pits taking more than three weeks.

However, the gold rush has spectacularly failed to transform the lives of many as expected while the law enforcement agencies’ intervention set the panners plans into disarray.

What is left now is a community of struggling artisanal and vendors falling into the depths of abject poverty and struggle.

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