Government acts on gold wars

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter 

POLICE have increased deployment of officers in gold mining areas in a bid to curb violent clashes by illegal panners as some of their clashes have turned fatal, an official has said.

During a recent Question and Answer session in the Senate recently, Chief Ngezi asked about the measures that Government is taking to deal with illegal miners as they were causing a lot of suffering in communities.

In response, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Deputy Minister Mike Madiro said Government was aware of criminal activities perpetrated by some illegal miners that have resulted in deaths in some instances.

He said that police have increased deployment of officers in areas with huge deposits of gold to quell violent clashes. “It is true that we are losing a lot of our young boys and girls through these machetes. However, the Government, through the ZRP, is taking measures especially in those areas where this problem of machetes is on the increase. A few months ago to date, our ZRP is working hard to deploy more police officers in those areas,” Cde Madiro said.

He said police were also confiscating dangerous weapons that illegal gold miners were using in their confrontations. —@nqotshili