admin
The Gwayi Valley Intensive Conservation Area committee said on Thursday the rivers were under threat from planned mining activities.
The Government granted four mining concessions to four companies who are in partnership with some businesspeople to undertake opencast coal and methane gas mining around the Gwayi area.
The mining companies, China Africa Sunlight Energy, Liberation Mining, Makrock and Sable Mining are already on site where they have built offices and are reportedly pegging mines around farms.
Faced with a threat of losing wildlife due to land degradation by mining activities, the Gwayi Valley Intensive Conservation Area committee made up of wildlife conservancy farmers, held a crisis meeting at Gwayi yesterday where they expressed concern at the effects of the planned mining activities.
Briefing journalists after the closed door meeting, the committee’s leadership said if allowed to continue, the open cast mining activities would negatively impact on any prospects of Bulawayo getting a lasting solution to water problems as the water body would be polluted.
The association chairperson, Mr Mark Russell, said open cast mining would not only destroy the environment but would also drive away animals as well as pollute the Gwayi and Shangani rivers, which are to be the feeder rivers to the dam to be built at their confluence.
“We are a proud product of the land acquisition exercise and we have put a lot of effort into sustainable wildlife conservation and utilisation of the environment. At the moment we are predominantly conservation farmers who have been contributing to the Gross Domestic Product but our main worry now is that we feel insecure in our business because of activities that have been happening in the past few months, chief among them open cast mining,” said Mr Russell.
“What is unfortunate is that the four coal and methane gas mines that have been granted concessions will be prospecting on the same farms where there is game. How do we continue to conserve the environment that is habitat to wildlife when there is prospecting and finally mining?”
The Intensive Conservation Area has a total of 13 farms on 105 000 hectares of land.
They occupied the area in 2000 during the land reform exercise and specialise in wildlife farming that involves professional hunting, which attracts tourists.
“Open cast mining might force animals to move to Botswana and that will destroy our tourism sector. Sadly, such type of mining will lead to the pollution of rivers and that means the proposed Gwayi-Shangani Dam water will not be safe for drinking,” said Mr Russell.
The association’s executive member, Mr Langton Masunda, appealed to the Government to reconsider the mining concessions, saying it was not only Gwayi area that would be affected, but also the whole of Matabeleland.
“Bulawayo industries are failing because of lack of resources. Here we have resources but they are now under threat as a result of the planned mining activities. We are not against development but we are saying if this kind of mining is allowed we would destroy the environment and lose the game. Let us have lifelong projects that will sustain the communities for generations to come as opposed to coal which is non-renewable,” he said.
Mr Public Widi Nkomo, the association’s secretary said: “We would want those who make decisions to revisit this issue. Once they start open cast mining there will be long term effects which will mean no water for Bulawayo because of pollution.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter