Hope Fountain miners under siege by illegal gold panners

OVER 100 illegal gold panners have descended on Hope Fountain, on the outskirts of Bulawayo, engaging in chaotic riverbed alluvial mining activities marked by violent clashes.

The situation has escalated to such an extent that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has deployed officers to restore order.

The influx of panners comes shortly after Zimbabwe banned riverbed alluvial mining last month in a bid to protect the environment.

Although similar bans have been issued in the past, enforcement has been inconsistent. The destructive effects of alluvial mining have long been felt in the form of water pollution, siltation, and the degradation of river ecosystems.

Some of the gold panners reportedly come from as far as Gokwe and Shurugwi with their presence heightening tensions with the local community.

Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said they deployed a crack team from the Support Unit and detectives from their minerals, flora, and fauna division to address the unrest in an operation dubbed “Operation No to Illegal Mining”.

“On Friday last week, we deployed a crack team to attend a case of illegal mining in Hope Fountain and they found a group of over 100 gold panners involved in illegal gold mining. Upon arrival at the scene, we managed to arrest seven of them while others fled in different directions,” he said.

Insp Ncube said the gold panners had invaded a mine shaft located in a riverbed within a mining claim belonging to a registered miner.

In their raid, police did not recover any gold ore and those who were arrested had explosives.

When a Chronicle yesterday visited the area, the news crew observed a heavy police presence while villagers went about their business after police had restored order in an area that had been turned into a war zone.

The gold panners, some reportedly from distant areas like Gokwe and Shurugwi, had set up in a mine shaft within a riverbed belonging to a registered miner.

Villagers, who had been living in fear, are now able to resume their daily activities. Local village head Mrs Ngonidzashe Ncube described how tensions had risen to dangerous levels before the police intervention.

“They have retreated to the mountains after the police arrived. Before that, the panners were constantly fighting with machetes and knobkerries over who had the right to mine in the river. We were terrified for our lives,” she said.

A registered miner, Mr Charles Muyambo, who runs Faunglum Mine which is located near the river where illegal gold mining activities took place, said he has been receiving death threats from the illegal gold panners after he tried to chase them away.

“A group of over 30 men were hunting for me after I reported their illegal mining activities to the police. The river is just next to our mine and the fact that we know that there is gold in there, we cannot mine in the river because that will lead to land degradation,” he said.

Mr Muyambo said he had to engage a private security firm to safeguard his equipment and protect his employees from the violent gold panners.

Despite the current police presence, Mr Muyambo and other miners fear that the panners may return once law enforcement leaves.

“Our lives will be at risk again, and this will negatively impact our operations. We employ locals, and if this continues, we may be forced to halt operations, leading to job losses,” he said.

About five established legal mines operate in the area and they fear that the continued presence of the illegal gold panners will affect their operations.

A local villager, Mr Lungisani Mlambo said they stopped walking around at night for fear of being attacked by the marauding gangs.

“No one in their right mind should be carrying machetes, threatening to hack people to pieces. The level of violence is shocking,” said Mr Mlambo.

Some villagers refused to speak to the news crew, fearing reprisals from the gold panners.