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Michael Magoronga Midlands Correspondent
Government has declared that mining operations at Peace Mine in Silobela are illegal since the mine was closed for safety reasons. Midlands provincial mining director Mr Nelson Munyanduri said the mine was only supposed to re-open after inspections by responsible authorities.

“Any mining activities taking place at the mine are illegal and not sanctioned by us. As far as we are concerned, all mining activities at the mine were suspended for security reasons and we await the inspection of the mine first before any mining activities can take place,” said Mr Munyanduri.

His sentiments come after several violent clashes between two groups of miners over rights to carry out mining activities at the mine.

Peace Mine, which was supposed to be a model Community Ownership Scheme and received state-of-the-art equipment from Government, was closed down in 2016 after massive vandalism of the equipment and the violent clashes between different groups.

The clashes started soon after the death of the chairperson of the trust that was operating the mine, Arthur Nkiwane, in 2017 and his widow, Mrs Sibusisiwe Moyo, took over the reins, which did not go down with another group led by Chief Sigodo that is claiming ownership of the mine claim.

Mrs Moyo has been carrying out mining activities at the mine and stands accused of personalising the mine instead of running it as a trust.

Mr Malanga Nkiwane, son to the late chairperson, who claims to be the operations manager of the mine said Chief Sigodo has been disrupting their operations by sending bouncers to attack them.

“He is bent on disturbing operations at the mine claiming he owns the mine. The mine benefits more than 1 000 families and it is running smoothly as a community ownership scheme where everyone is taking turns to mine. But Chief Sigodo recently sent bouncers to attack us and order us off the mine,” said Mr Nkiwane.

He said the chief wanted to personalise the mine and deprive more than 1 000 dependants of their livelihood.

Chief Sigodo — born Apollo Mlilo  —said the mine belonged to him after the High Court ruled in his favour.

“For starters, I did not send any bouncers to attack them, they actually attacked police officers who had gone to the mine to furnish them with the court papers,” said the chief.

He said operations were stalled by Government after the Nkiwane family turned the mine into a family dynasty.

Chief Sigodo said the miners there were treading on dangerous ground as the mine could collapse anytime.

“Mines officials closed the mine pending further assessments, but they keep forcing people to undertake mining operations there. I am urging Government to intervene before another disaster akin to the Battlefields one is recorded,” he said.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando recently told Parliament that the ownership wrangle was delaying the mine’s restructuring programme and it’s reopening.

He was responding to Silobela legislator Mthokozisi Manoki-Mpofu’s question on what was delaying the reopening of the mine.

“With respect to Peace Mine, there has been a wrangle over ownership of mining claims. The long and short of it is that there is a tribute agreement which expired in October 2017 and the registered owner of the claims has indicated that he is not renewing the tribute. So the issue at the moment is between the owner of the claim and those who wish to mine to enter into a valid tribute agreement,” said Minister Chitando.