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Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Correspondent
Former kombi touts and conductors have resorted to gold panning as a source of livelihood.
The Covid-19 pandemic saw the government introducing drastic measures meant to protect the general citizens of the country with one of these being the consolidation of all public transport under the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company.
The development saw commuter omnibus conductors popularly known as ‘owindi’ losing their jobs.
This has seen most of the kombi conductors resorting to illegal gold panning with most going to Matopo and Inyathi areas in search of the precious mineral, a move that has been described by life coaches to be the consequence of not professionalising their craft.
A recent visit by Sunday News to Inyathi at an area called ‘Durban’ observed that most of the youths in the area were former kombi conductors.
Some of the panners who spoke to this reporter said they had resorted to gold panning as their source of livelihood following government directive to have transport centralised within Zupco in an effort to curb the Covid – 19 pamdemic and bring sanity to the sector.
“I was unfortunate not to get basic education hence I was left with no option as I had to provide for my family,” said one of the panners who spoke on condition of annomity.
A local resident who identified himself as Innocent Moyo at Inyathi said they had observed a surge in people coming to the area in search of the precious mineral since the lockdown was effected.
“Since the lockdown started, we are observing more and more young people coming to this area in search of gold,” said Moyo.
@nyeve 14
Online Reporter