adminlook for gold in the area.
Government has urged traditional leaders and local communities to empower people so that they police mining activities in the area.
Gold panners and unlicenced miners are wantonly cutting down trees and digging huge pits in search of the mineral.
The activities have left a trail of destruction.
President of the Chiefs’ Council Chief Fortune Charumbira, under whose jurisdiction Mushandike communal lands falls, on Monday decried the rampant land degradation. Chief Charumbira called for the urgent amendment of the Mines and Minerals Act for traditional leaders and their communities to control the mining activities.
‘’We are worried about the extent of damage to the environment in Mushandike that is continuously being caused by both illegal and licenced miners digging for gold in our area.
“Trees have been wantonly cut down by the panners who have also dug up huge pits without any effort to rehabilitate the environment after the mining activities.
“At the moment, even a chief in the area does not have any control over people carrying out mining activities in their areas,” said Chief Charumbira.
He said villagers were forced to fill in the pits after the illegal miners had left.
Online Reporter