Online Reporter
Elliot Ziwira
Features and Supplements Editor
Although history recalls that Zimbabwe’s anti-colonial struggles of the 1890s and 1970s were triggered by the land issue, it can be argued that it was about the soil. In its broader sense, land covers a wide gamut—rivers, mountains, buildings, forests and minerals.
White settlers appropriated the richer parts of the land as determined by the composition of the soil, and condemned blacks to arid, dry and barren areas, like Shangani and Gwayi. Through assessment of the soil, colonists could tell the wealth underneath.
In their mission of robbery, disguised as Christian civilisation, colonists were informed by four aspects of the soil. The first thing that informed them was the texture (it had to be loamy), then the colour (preferably dark red). The third feature was the environment (lush vegetation); and the fourth issue had to sum up the tangibles therein (mineral resources).
The annexation of Mashonaland and Matabeleland was driven more by greed for minerals, like gold and diamonds, than the desire to farm.
Curiously, the offer for participation in the colonial project for the mercenaries, known as the Pioneer Column, was 1 200 hectares (3 000 acres) of arable land and 15 mining claims, adding up to 8,5 hectares or 21 acres.
Accompanied by 180 civilian colonists, 62 wagons and 200 volunteers, who would later become part of the British South Africa Police (BSAP), Starr Johnson, Cecil John Rhodes’ emissary, set on the mission to colonise Mashonaland and Matabeleland, thus setting in motion a discriminatory system of plunder, brutality and murder that would last close to 100 years.
By the time the indigenous people, inspired by the quest to be free to determine their destiny, took up arms in the 1890s (First Chimurenga) and 1970s (Second Chimurenga), the settler apparatus had wreaked havoc on the mineral rich belly of the Motherland.
With no close monitoring on who got what in relation to the offer of land and mining claims, colonists amassed large swathes of arable land, either for farming or mining, and elbowed out blacks from their ancestral heritage.
Blacks were locked out of the colonial enterprise that enriched settler kin and kith through pillaging of African resources.
For 45 years now, Zimbabweans have been celebrating the reclamation of their heritage, which has given them access to the means of production—the land, thus opening up opportunities in agrarian and mining spaces for livelihood routes. The colonial agenda: Taking a brief journey underground
The colonial project was pivoted on a non-thinking, non-feeling machine that fed on human blood and sweat. As a result, white Rhodesians would be rewarded with gold and other minerals from the belly of the earth.
Gold mining in Zimbabwe goes back centuries in time, way before colonialism. The arrival of settlers brought mechanised mining methods, which required labour and heightened plunder.
When white Rhodesians set up mines on gold claims begotten on deceit and violence, they forced blacks to work in them for next to nothing. Thousands of black people were buried under the mineshafts. Those who survived the dying underground contracted diseases like tuberculosis, which, in a way, was death in motion.
The Wankie (Hwange) Coal Mine disaster of June 6, 1972, for example, claimed 427 lives of black miners from South Africa, Angola, Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) following a series of suspected methane gas explosions underground at Wankie Number 2 Colliery (Kamandama Shaft).
The mishap remains the deadliest to date in the history of Zimbabwe.
Reportedly, the general manager of the mine, Gordon Livingstone-Blevins, on June 9 decided to leave the bodies where they were.
Since colonialism was not designed to benefit Africans, proceeds of mining activities were shipped to Europe and America to develop economies there.
Bemoaning the ousting of Roland “Tiny” Rowland, whom he believed to have had a heart for Africa, as Lonrho’s chief executive in 1994, the then Mines Minister, Dr Eddison Zvobgo, pointed out how multinationals plundered the continent’s resources to develop their countries in the West.
He decried: “Let me take the case of Lonrho . . . Apart from owning about one million acres (400 000 hectares) in Zimbabwe, they produce about 175 000 ounces of Zimbabwean gold—nearly 30 percent of this country’s total production of gold.”
Dr Zvobgo drove his point home: “The company started here (in 1961) and grew into 800 companies around the world. Without profits made here, Lonrho would not have bought Ashanti Gold Mine for three million pounds in 1969.
“Now Western Platinum would be floated off, without Zimbabwe benefiting, for a figure in excess of one billion pounds.” He revealed that there were rumours that Lonrho was in the process of parcelling out all mines in their portfolio into a London-based holding company with the view to floating it, as the management exhibited no interest in Africa save for looting the continent (The Herald, 23 February 1995).
From almost nothing in 1961, Lonrho grew into 800 companies across the world. The journey and milestones Zimbabwe is rich in minerals, some of which are: gold, silver, platinum group metals (PGMs) consisting of platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium, diamonds, chrome, coal, nickel, asbestos, and coal bed methane.
Other minerals include, copper, iron, pegmatite (tantalite, tin and wolframite, beryl, mica, feldspar, gemstones such as emerald, aquamarine, chrysoberyl, alexandrite and euclase), and dimension stones (Granites, gneisses, migmatites, gabbro-norites, dolerite, marbles, and quartzites).
The country has the second largest high grade chromium ores in the world after South Africa, with reserves of approximately 10 billion tonnes.
The immediate task of the Government at Independence in 1980 was to correct colonial inequalities that impoverished black people as they were made to eke it out on the beach of gold as labourers and semi-skilled workers.
Policies were put in place to benefit citizens from their ancestral heritage while encouraging foreign investment and joint ventures.
The Zimbabwe Business and Industrial Trade Exhibition (Zimbex), which began in the early 1990s, encouraged participants to learn from each other and promote local, regional, and international trade.
The Zimbex ’94 attracted 12 000 people and generated $100 million worth of business. Market reforms introduced in 1990 saw production increasing from $4,5 billion in 1995 to $5 billion in 1996.
To close the skills gap created by discriminatory colonial laws, the Government established the School of Mines, through the Chamber of Mines, which contributed $600 000 towards the construction of the school in 1992 to address the needs of the mining industry.
The Ministry of Mines collaborated with the Association of Canadian Community Colleges with the assistance of Canadian International Development Agency to establish a twinning programme with the Haileybury School of Mines in an exchange programme valued at $1,2 million, designed to assist in the development of teacher training curriculum.
In 1992, the Canadian International Development availed a $12,7 million package to further enhance the development of the School of Mines in conjunction with the ministry. By the same year, mining earnings were expected to grow to US$2 billion.
According to the Zimbabwe Investment Centre, in 1994, the ministry approved 222 mining projects worth $2,6 billion, gaining on the 204, valued at $1,2 million approved in the previous year.
