sector shattering the lives of most communities in Mutoko’s granite rock mining area.
This emerged at an all stakeholders meeting on the impact of granite rock mining, which was held recently in the area.

Global traders are selling a slice of a square metre of black granite mineral stones from quarries across Mutoko at prices between US$500 and US$600 while the local rural district council is getting a mere US$1 for a tonne of black granite.
“We are not benefiting anything at all,” said Mr Peter Sigauke, the chief executive of Mutoko Rural District Council.

“We are getting peanuts and yet our local people are suffering from the effects of granite extraction.”
Dolorosa Mubvumbi of the Budja Environmental Conservation Trust said the unethical mining practices of granite rock companies were shattering the lives and livelihoods of local communities.
“Some locals have been dispossessed from their land, sacred shrines have been tampered with, noise and dust pollution is so severe and they are suffering for nothing. Mining companies are reaping all the benefits.”

Poor monitoring of the granite extractive sector has resulted in the loss of revenue running into millions of dollars as companies understate weight and production figures.
Chiefs and headmen expressed concern over poor monitoring of and malpractices by mining companies.
Reports abound of mining companies doctoring production figures and tampering with weight figures, in the process bleeding the country of millions of dollars worth of revenue.

“Granite stones gain weight when they reach the port of Beira in Mozambique,” remarked one Chief.
“These companies are not being truthful about the weight of stones and production figures. The Government must investigate these cases.”
According to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe data shown at the meeting, 98 percent of the mined black granite is exported to Italy, South Africa, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, China, Japan,

Malaysia, Singapore, Argentina, the United States and Canada.
Italy consumes about 70 percent of the exports. The MMCZ also reports that Mutoko District contributes about 75 percent of the country’s total black granite output.
At least 95 percent of an estimated 150 000 tonnes mined annually in Zimbabwe is exported.

In 2009, the district produced 121 000 metric tonnes of black granite worth US$12,1 million and Mutoko Rural District Council got a paltry US$18 400.
The local council charged US$1 for a tonne of black granite while a square metre slice is being sold for US$600 on the international market.
Raw black granite is being mined for a mere US$0,40 per cubic tonne. The companies are very protective with information about the ownership structure, production figures and revenue generated.

After re-classification of granite as a mineral, all royalties went to central Government.
The State receives 2 percent of royalties every year. Last year Government received US$322 540 compared to US$323 360 in 2008.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development collects royalties via the MMCZ

Sources at the meeting said ownership is both foreign and local, with powerful elites using middlemen as fronts in some companies.
“Before the granite stone was deemed a mineral, we managed the licensing and collection of royalties. We managed to build the Mutoko Rural Council office complex, Mutoko High School and a clinic,” said Alderman Erik Bota of Mutoko.

“We need to collect the royalties on our own and carry out development activities that our people want.”
Participants who included traditional leaders, councillors, politicians, environmental activists, NGOs, political party representatives and affected people from Mutoko noted with concern the adverse impact of granite mining on local communities. Granite mining companies never attended despite having been invited.

They said the impact included – scattered rubble and open pits which were a hazard to humans and livestock, loss of agricultural land, diversion of river courses, total destruction of hills and mountains (loss of aesthetic beauty).
Others included the destruction of caves with ancient and priceless rock paintings, loss of bio-diversity, increased conflicts over grazing land, water resources and land, mine injuries and deaths and rising cases of TB and HIV in mining areas.

Listening to views from the participants, it became clearer that mining companies are only concerned with profit making and nothing else.
Most mining activities often result in infrastructural development where the extraction is taking place to the port. Improvement of roads, telecommunications, water and other basic infrastructure often comes as a result of mining.

Mining communities in Mutoko say road networks normally follow the routes for mining trucks excluding nearby villages.
For example, one villager said the road from Mutoko Growth Point to quarries in the Nyamakope area is graded but a key road to Nyadire Mission Hospital is ungraded and hardly maintained.
Transport operators no longer service the route leaving scores of would be travellers stranded.

“Most of these roads lead to granite mining sites by-passing the local villages,” said Chief Michael Gurupira Mutoko.
The villages mainly affected by granite mining activities include – Nyamakope, Kowo, Katsukunya, Kadiki, Nyamuzuwe, Chindenga, Nyamuganhu, Makochera, Chimoyo, Kawere and some villages in the Gurure area.

Mubvumbi sadly observed that more than three decades after the mining of granite rock started, the vast majority of people in Mutoko still do not have access to basic infrastructure like electricity, potable water, health centres, roads and schools.
Chief Mutoko said the infrastructure that existed was solely designed to benefit corporate mining companies and would in no way directly reduce poverty substantially.

Mutuso Dhliwayo of the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) said there was very little or no public participation in most mining activities.
“The communities are voiceless and powerless as the extraction of the granite rock continues unabated with little or no benefits trickling to the rest of locals. Local equity participation in mining projects is also not seriously promoted nor embedded in law as is the case in South Africa,” he said.

The effects are seen in the intensity of environmental degradation, pollution of rivers (flowing in Nyamakope and Gurure-Kadiki villages), loss of livelihoods (loss of grazing land and source of wild fruits, herbs and trees for building huts, fibre for tying grass reported in most villages).
They are also seen in forced evictions and relocations (reported in the Nyamuzuwe, Kowo and Nyamokope area), drug shortages at rural health centres, dilapidated school and hospital infrastructure and poor roads in areas where mining companies are active.
Sigauke and other councillors said the Mines and Mineral Act, the principal governing legislation for mineral prospecting, exploration and mining must be amended to allow the council to issue licences, monitor

mining operations, collect revenue for development purposes and enforce occupational health and safety standards.
He said plans were afoot to set up weighbridges to raise funds for development activities and also to stop the doctoring of weight figures by mining companies who are siphoning the granite stone by understating the weight of the stones shipped out of the country.

Participants discussed wide ranging issues and some of the major recommendations made included:

  • Local administrators believe strongly that amending the Mines and Minerals Act to give them the status and power to control the registration of mining companies is the best solution to the existing problem.

This would enable them to manage royalties, ensure compliance of safety and health standards and the carrying out of mining rehabilitative measures.

  • Called for the development and implementation of mining standards and measures, and the enforcement of Environmental Management Authority regulations.
  • Urged mining companies to be proactive in rehabilitating mines areas and supporting environmental programs in Mutoko.
  • Called for an end in the construction of temporary and tiny house mining settlements, which are not decent and suitable for human habitation. Councillors want decent accommodation in proper designated council areas.

Mining sector in Mutoko should emulate the example of Mimosa Mine in Zvishavane, which is developing Zvishavane into one of the fastest growing towns in Zimbabwe.

  • Urged mining companies to consider setting up granite cutting and polishing companies to add value and create more jobs. This could stimulate related industries and services and transform Mutoko into a viable mining town.
  • Called for dialogue and mutual co-operation between local communities and mining companies.
  • Want mining companies to compensate locals whose houses are getting cracked by mining blasting activities.
  • Government should extend the Community Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire) concept to the mining sector to enable communities to benefit directly from minerals in their areas.

Communities living near national game park benefit from sales and meat from animal hunting. eg Binga, Hurungwe and parts in Kariba.

  • Constitution should make sure 10 percent of proceeds from sales of natural resources obtained from a particular locality accrue to that community as is the case for Mutoko
  • Traditional leaders demand respect of cultural sites by mining companies. The sites house valuable and ancient pottery, burial sites, sacred drums and other traditional artifacts.

“They must respect our cultural values, the traditional leadership and our identity as Africans,” said Chief Mutoko.
Chief Charehwa said a huge snake (python) sacred to his chieftainship was killed in a sacred mountain in his area by mining activities.
He alleged that drums and other cultural artifacts, spears, knobkerries, and pottery were also destroyed.

  • Mining companies must support efforts to conserve and preserve the biodiversity that exist in Mutoko and that is critical for the survival of people in times of crisis.

These include hacha, masau, herbal plants, matohwe, baobab fruits, wild berries and other wild food crop relatives. Leaders said they must desist from the reckless cutting down of indigenous trees and other wild crop plants.

  • Locals want CSOs to help initiate share-ownership schemes in the companies just like is happening in South Africa.

Current indigenisation laws should take care of the communities’ grievances of not benefiting from their resources by allowing them to also buy shares in the mining companies operating in Mutoko.

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