Source: Zimbabwean Artisanal Miners Fear Resurgence of Violence | Voice of America – English Youths looking for gold in Mazowe, about 40 kilometers north of Harare, say they can go for days without getting anything. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA) MAZOWE, ZIMBABWE – Deadly violence in Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector was a problem for years until COVID-19 restrictions brought […]
Youths looking for gold in Mazowe, about 40 kilometers north of Harare, say they can go for days without getting anything. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
MAZOWE, ZIMBABWE – Deadly violence in Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector was a problem for years until COVID-19 restrictions brought it to a sudden, surprising halt. Now, with lockdown measures gradually lifting, some in the sector fear the violence will return.
Violence associated with Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector killed hundreds of people in 2019 and early 2020, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group.
The violence stemmed from miners fighting over gold or gangs robbing miners at gunpoint.
Anouk Rigterink is a former fellow at the International Crisis Group who contributed to the report. She said the fighting is crippling investment in the sector.
Anouk Rigterink a former fellow at the International Crisis Group, says violence in Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector is crippling investment in the sector. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA/SKYPE)
“It is also important to consider how this violence affects Zimbabwe’s long term prospects of attracting investors,” Rigterink said. “This violence makes investing in Zimbabwe’s gold more risky. This means attracting investors with shorter time horizon; those who want to make quicky money by perhaps engaging in patronage economy. Whereas what Zimbabwe really wants is a speck of, spread of investors including those with patient capital who want to develop mines etc and this violence is not good to such investment.”
Gold is Zimbabwe’s largest foreign exchange earner. The country hopes gold mining will help its ailing economy recover after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Felix Muchemwa is one of the panners in this gold-rich area of Mazowe, about 40 kilometers north of Harare. He said gangs with machetes sometimes attack artisanal miners.
Felix Muchemwa, one of the panners in this gold-rich area of Mazowe, about 40 kilometers north of Harare, says gangs with machetes sometimes attack artisanal miners. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
“At times when they come we flee,” Muchemwa said. “But if it’s a night raid, we are in trouble. But if we feel it’s too much, we gang up and fight back. They may run away or overpower us. Gold panning is all about trying to look for money for our families’ survival.”
Kazembe Kazembe, Zimbabwe’s Home Affairs Minister — who is in charge of police — said the government will not tolerate unrest in the mining sector.
“If anything along those lines happen, we are very much prepared to deal with it the way we dealt with it last time. But we do not anticipate such illegal activities,” Kazember said. “We are kindly asking those artisanal miners to obey the law and do things legally.”
Kazembe Kazembe, Zimbabwe’s home affairs minister, who is in charge of police, says the government will not tolerate unrest in the mining sector. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
And violence has declined steeply this year since COVID-19 restrictions went into place. The violence has not returned, even with the gradual lifting of the lockdown since August.
The International Crisis Group report said if Zimbabwe wants to keep things this way — and reduce rampant gold smuggling that costs the country valuable revenue — the government must give mining cooperatives legal standing and pay gold producers the prevailing global rate.
That way, it said, Zimbabwe gold can add some glitter to the country’s dim economy.
Source: Critics Decry Zimbabwe’s Press Freedom Failures | Voice of America – English HARARE – November marks three years since Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power from the late Robert Mugabe and promised to honor his people’s constitutional rights. But critics say freedom of the press is not being respected, pointing to the two arrests […]
HARARE – November marks three years since Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power from the late Robert Mugabe and promised to honor his people’s constitutional rights. But critics say freedom of the press is not being respected, pointing to the two arrests this year of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono.
Hopewell Chin’ono exchanged words with prosecutors after his second arrest this year – both triggered by messages on Twitter.
Zimbabwe Court Frees Journalist Charged With Obstructing Justice
Hopewerll Chin’ono’s recent arrest and that of dozens of activists has led to accusations that the country’s government was persecuting opponents, a charge authorities deny
The first arrest in late July was for a tweet supporting an anti-corruption protest. The second in November followed a tweet criticizing Zimbabwe’s chief justice.
He is now facing charges of inciting unrest and obstruction of justice, as well as demeaning the country’s National Prosecution Authority.
Chin’ono says authorities are sending a clear message with his arrests, and Zimbabwe’s journalists are listening.
Hopewell Chin’ono, a reporter who has been arrested twice this year for posting messages on Twitter which President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government did not like. (Photo: Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
“So, because of those arrests, consequently journalists are afraid of pushing the envelope and doing the right thing: practicing journalism, because they are saying to themselves, ‘if they could arrest Hopewell Chin’ono twice for practicing journalism what more could happen to us? We are not as prominent as he is and we could just languish and rot in the prisons,’” Chin said.
Former President Robert Mugabe often used restrictive media laws to arrest critical journalists during his 37-year rule.
When President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to power in 2017, he promised free expression – raising hopes of change among journalists and citizens.
Authorities have maintained that Chin’ono’s arrests were about upholding the law, not cracking down on press freedoms.
Ndavaningi Mangwana, the secretary for Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information says six new television stations were just licensed in Zimbabwe, and added that foreign media houses are now free to operate in the country. (Photo: Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
“Nobody has been arrested under any law which has to do with the media. But if laws have been broken in other sections of our security, obviously whether it’s a journalist, a lawyer or a doctor, people will be arrested. Other than that, the environment for the media to operate has been very enabling,” said Ndavaningi Mangwana, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information.
The Information Ministry official noted that six new television stations were just licensed in Zimbabwe, and added that foreign media houses are now free to operate in the country.
But press freedom groups say the Zimbabwean government has never stopped efforts to muzzle the media.
Tabani Moyo, head of a press freedom groups – the Media Institute of Southern Africa in Zimbabwe – says the government has never stopped efforts to muzzle the media. (Photo: Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)
“One step forward, 10 (steps) backwards. Cracks on investigative journalism: case of Hopewell Chin’ono,” said Tabani Moyo, head of the Media Institute of Southern Africa in Zimbabwe. “The attacks on the industry have been aggressive and we have seen the weaponizing of the law; the introduction of the Cyber Security Bill which seeks to snoop and empower the military to crackdown on expression. The heavy handedness on the media has been highly pronounced.”
If the cybercrime bill becomes law, Zimbabweans accused of spreading falsehoods on social media could be punished with up to five years in prison.
Chin’ono is expected to go to trial next month for allegedly inciting the protest against corruption in July this year.
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