Illegal mining activities affect city road

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor

ILLEGAL gold mining activities taking place in Bulawayo’s New Parklands suburb have now affected one of the city’s major roads, posing a danger to both motorists and pedestrians.

The illegal mine has been operating for the past few years at the Bulawayo City Council-owned Khumalo Gravel Pit located at the corner of Cecil and Coghlan avenues. This is despite the local authority’s rangers constantly engaging in running battles with the illegal miners.

According to a council report, the illegal activities are threatening Coghlan Avenue, which is one of the city’s major carriageways, with mostly long-distance heavy goods vehicles using the road which also connects Gwanda Road with Harare Road. Long-distance heavy goods vehicles are banned from entering the Central Business District.

“The Director of Engineering Services (Engineer Sikhumbuzo Ncube) reported that the team from the roads branch had visited the Khumalo Gravel Pit on January 6, 2023 and noted the extent of illegal mining activities within the gravel pit. The mining activities were leaving a number of unstable grounds within the pit area resulting in random collapses which were a threat to human life. The team also noted that the illegal miners had dug two holes that were close to Coghlan Avenue, approximately 15m from the edge of the carriageway,” reads the report.

The local authority further noted that Coghlan Avenue was classed as a major collector and was currently used as a diversion route for the closed section of Cecil Avenue, a bypass route and that meant a significant number of heavy goods vehicles were using this road.

“The department required an assessment of the actual damage caused by the illegal mining groups to a section of Coghlan Avenue. The assessment process would require the affected section of Coghlan Avenue to be removed of all persons currently doing illegal excavations. The assessment would determine the probable impact of the shaft on the structural integrity of the road pavement. At the moment the team was unable to tell if the shaft was going towards or away from the road and to ensure the safety of the motoring public it was imperative that the assessment was conducted on this section of Coghlan Avenue,” reads the report.

However, the local authority also noted that the road closure would greatly inconvenience the motoring public given that a section of Coghlan Avenue was in the vicinity of the closed section of Cecil Avenue, but it was a necessary exercise.

Over the years a number of illegal miners have died at the pit after its collapse although they were in the habit of constantly going back to their activities despite warnings from the local authority and police on the dangers of the mine.