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There is a sense of paralysis when it comes to what should be done about gangs that have overrun areas where gold panning activities have become pronounced and how the attendant violence should be tackled effectively.

The number of lives lost and the people maimed or injured due to violence perpetrated by “Mashurugwi” throughout the country is threatening to rival those lost to road traffic accidents.

“Mashurugwi” is the term used to refer to outlaws that have become the terror of artisanal miners and mining companies.
As an example, in Kadoma District alone during the first 10 months of this year, police recorded 234 machete-related crimes, while in neighbouring Chegutu District, similar cases have risen from 108 to 125.

The belt stretching from Chegutu, Kadoma right down to Kwekwe has been the foremost active theatre of the most viciously fought battles, rendering it the equivalent of Zimbabwe’s Wild West.

Artisanal miners are attacked, robbed, evicted, seriously injured — if they are lucky to survive — and, in the worst case scenario, killed in the vile and barbaric attacks that defy conduct expected of normal human beings.

The gangs can attack artisanal miners and take over their claims, but a pattern that is beginning to emerge is that they do not go that route because that is the more difficult approach. They wait for the miners at the end of the day’s work before pouncing because this is the easier, less taxing way.

In some instances, the gangs wait for the miners to sell their ore, before they move in and rob them. In this modern day, the savagery with which this is carried out is shocking.

The weapon of choice in most of the attacks has been the machete —ordinarily used in the manual harvesting of sugar cane or clearing brush.

The Government has floated the idea of a combined offensive made up of the police, the Judicial Service Commission, prosecuting authorities, mining companies and other relevant stakeholders as a concerted response.

Mandatory sentences for those found with the lethal weapons in mining areas are also part of the proposed offensive.
But just banning machetes, while welcome, will not remove the murderous mindset that is driving the violence. Next, the gangs will use guns, crowbars, knobkerries or spears. We are told they are already using catapults.

Cordoning off areas found to have deposits or where there are official mining activities could help in providing a secure working environment for mining companies and gold panners. The inclusion of the police, security companies and other resources from entities involved in mining activities could constitute a concerted response that could shut out the marauding gangs.

The next step would be to secure the transportation of the gold from the mining areas to Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the counry’s official gold buyer and processor.

Gold deposits continue to be found in the belt that stretches from Gwanda in the south of the country; Mberengwa, Shurugwi, Kwekwe in the Midlands; Kadoma, Chegutu and Chinhoyi in Mashonaland West; and Bindura, Guruve, Mazowe and Shamva in Mashonaland Central.

There are areas in Manicaland where gold is mined, but these are defined by the absence of violence accompanying them.
Unexplained is the question how the barbaric and brutal conduct of these gangs has been allowed to spiral out of control for so long yet they are under the watch of law enforcement agents.

Less inspiring is the absence of a coherent strategy to deal with and arrest the menace. Instead with each day and each gold find, the audacity of the gangs multiplies.

The President had an opportunity to address the issue when he visited Kadoma on Wednesday this week for a youth conference. Kadoma, Kwekwe and Chegutu are among the epicentres of violence in gold panning or mining areas in the country.

In the beginning, the violence associated with artisanal mining was specific to the Midlands town of Shurugwi but, like a raging wildfire, it has since spread throughout the country. The Midlands, Mashonaland Central and West provinces, however, come up as the worst theatres of violence in which the gangs are the lead actors.

Whole communities live in absolute terror of the gangs.
Somalia descended into chaos because the lawlessness there began as pockets confined to specific areas, but in due course spun out of control and to this day, the continent bears the brunt of that conflict.

Unattended, Zimbabwe risks falling into the hands of these warlords. That would be a recipe for disaster. There is, therefore, an urgent need for a comprehensive response that must bring the activities of these gangs so that artisanal miners can go about their work unperturbed. Marshalling in law enforcement agents alongside private security companies will be part of the required response.