Women miners cite lack of capital as barrier to production

Business Reporter

WOMEN miners in Gwanda have bemoaned the lack of financial capital, saying this is limiting their production and ability to expand operations, as they seek protection to operate in the male-dominated sector.

This stems from a combination of factors, including limited access to finance, gender inequalities in asset ownership, challenges in acquiring mining licences and claims, and steep capital requirements for operational efficiency.

In Zimbabwe, women are increasingly involved in the mining sector, accounting for about 13 percent of the workforce, contributing significantly to economic growth and community development; however, they seem to be lagging behind in production.

Gwanda is rich in minerals like gold, lithium and chrome, but the involvement of women in exploiting them is minimal.

In an interview during a recent fact-finding visit and public hearing at Mthandazo Women Miners Association Trust, Ms Priscilla Masuku said women in mining often face difficulties in securing loans or other forms of financing for equipment, technology and essential resources.

“This has been the challenge across the district and around the country as well; most women who are into mining cannot operate at full capacity because they do not have capital to fully operationalise their operations,” she said.

“As women in mining, we lack collateral security demanded by mainstream lenders for us to be considered prospective borrowers.

“We are appealing to the Government to initiate new ways of funding so that, as women, we also qualify to access finances to boost our production.”

Ms Masuku, who is also the Miners for Economic Development (Miners4ED) provincial secretary-general, said most women in mining were facing discrimination as they were working under men and do not have their own claims.

Highlighting other challenges faced by women miners, Ms Ruth Zulu said they were mainly being given dry unproductive land with no traces.

“Most of the claims given to women miners will be unproductive and we nickname them amasimu/muda (cropping fields) because we hardly get anything there in terms of minerals,” she said.

“We were also given some claims that are far away in the bushes of Filabusi and the distance to get there is a challenge for women.

“Such claims are being given to people who are already financially ailing and incapacitated. Taking a first step is already a challenge because they do not have money and resources.”

Ms Zulu said a lack of geological knowledge was also hindering women miners in their operations because they cannot trace the mineral belts, resulting in them neglecting operations.

Ms Sibongile Sibanda said women miners were in need of protection from attacks as well.

“We are seeking intervention from the authorities because most of the time we are being targeted by the notorious machete gangs, whose actions harm our ability to mine,” she said.

She said on several occasions, women miners or their employees had been attacked as they cannot afford to hire security companies to protect them during their operations.

As a youth in mining, Ms Roselyn Moyo said they were facing all forms of abuse in their operations.

“We are still learning and new to these mining things but male counterparts take advantage of us and we suffer all sorts of abuse at their hands.

“We are also regularly physically and verbally abused in public space; we really need interventions on this,” she said.

The harsh nature of the industry, she added, was “normalising” harmful practices due to a lack of strong laws and policies to protect women and girls.

Ms Moyo said they were in need of mining training so that they acquire knowledge on a broad range of issues, including foundational safety and basic skills for new miners.

“It should also cover topics like hazard recognition, emergency procedures, equipment operation and risk management so that we are able to do our mining operation on our own and as women and youth in mining,” she said.

The fact-finding visit and public hearing was conducted by a joint team comprising the Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development and the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development, as they inquired into the implementation of the National Gender Policy in the mining, extraction and mining value chain across the country.

The public consultations for small- and medium-scale mining operations involving women, persons with disabilities and the youth also assessed challenges faced in the sector.