Zela expands operations into Gwanda

Marvelous Moyo
THE Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association has expanded its operations to Gwanda district, as it intensifies efforts to empower rural communities in accruing benefits from mining activities taking place within their sorroundings.
The organisation has conducted awareness raising and capacity building programmes on mining governance with various sections of the Gwanda community including small-scale miners, residents and youths.

In an interview in Gwanda, Zela projects officer Mr Gilbert Makore said his organisation has been engaging the Gwanda community on issues related to mining laws, environmental management, mine workers’ rights and health issues, among others.

“The programme we are implementing or looking at starting in Gwanda is basically meant to ensure that community members have a heightened interest in what is going on in mining companies in the district. It is very important for the community to be more active in monitoring what is going on in terms of gold mining, to get more involved in gold mining but get involved as small-scale miners from a more informed position,” he said.

Zela also has comprehensive programmes in some parts of the country seeking to support communities to benefit from natural resources in their areas to avoid exploitation.

“Once the community gets more involved and start asking questions, calling for transparency and accountability, it would ensure that they start to see more benefits from the mining companies extracting the resource within that catchment area,” Mr Makore said.

The organisation is expecting to operate in Gwanda district in the next two years. Gwanda is a gold mining town and is endowed with vast mineral resources and has one of the biggest mines in the country including Blanket Mine but communities have remained poor and under-developed.

The Government has made great strides, through the formation of Community Share Ownership Trusts, to develop the rural areas by ensuring mining companies contribute towards advancement of communities which has seen clinics and school blocks built, and irrigation schemes rehabilitated among other developments.

“In other areas we have done exceptionally well particularly in creating spaces for community participation, where previously a Community Share Ownership Trust were not giving feedback to local communities but now they are doing regular quarterly public hearings,” said Mr Makore. However, youths in the districts said the biggest challenge was that they were not being allocated mining claims to work in despite that there were some which have been lying idle for years.