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Sydney Kawadza Mash West Bureau Chief
Government is using concrete slabs to fend off illegal miners who have besieged a section of the Chegutu-Chinhoyi Highway in the Gadzema area in search of gold. The panners have left 19 pits that could destroy the road.

Officials in Mashonaland West earlier this week swiftly moved on to block the illegal miners whose activities were threatening the busy highway, which also services trucks going to Chirundu.

Chegutu District Administrator and chairperson of the Civil Protection Unit, Mr Anyway Tomu, visited the area with members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, officials from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and Environmental Management Agency after the illegal gold miners almost destroyed the road in search of the yellow metal.

After the meeting, Government officials agreed that police officers be deployed along the section of road, while workers from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development fill the pits before using concrete slabs to protect the road.

In an interview, Mr Tomu said the affected area was part of the disputed Blackridge claims which were recently reclaimed from artisanal miners Danangwe District Youth Mining Co-operative by Pickstone Mine.

“We visited the area and assessed the damages to the road and it was recommended that the area be closed while the pits are filled and compacted before concrete slabs are put along the affected area,” he said.

Mr Tomu said the meeting agreed to enhance security around the area which was being protected by a private security company.

“Peakstone had engaged a private security company, but it is failing to secure that area and match the illegal miners because we heard that they come in lorries armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons,” he said.

He said Government workers would rehabilitate the area, while Pickstone Mine provides material and equipment for the programme.

Mr Tomu said indications were that the illegal miners came to the area armed with weapons and floodlights for use during the night before randomly digging along the highway.

“We have never experienced such an incident, but we are assuming that artisanal miners who were removed from that area are the same people who could be digging along the road, maybe it could be out of frustration,” he said.

According to EMA provincial education and publicity officer Mr Munyaradzi Nhariswa, illegal mining activities are posing risk to livelihoods, infrastructure and the bio-physical environment at large.

“The area was deserted during the time of inspection except for the mine security personnel, but 19 pits were noted covering an area of 20 metres by 20 metres,” he said.

“The pits were in a linear pattern along the edges of the highway on average each measuring three metres by 1,5 metres and one metre to two metres deep.

“The closeness of the mining activities to the road compromises the integrity of the highway hence posing great risk of subsidence.”

The dispute between Breekridge Investment who own the Pickstone Mine and the artisanal miner from Danangwe ended recently when the High Court ruled in favour of the mine.

At least 3 000 artisanal miners were evicted from the area.