SMALL-SCALE miners have proposed a plethora of ideas to review the Miners and Mineral
Bill to safeguard the small-scale miners from victimisation while also giving traditional
leaders power to preside over mines in their jurisdiction.
Small-scale miners, who gathered at Umzingwane District for a Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee hearing on the Mines and Mineral Bill last week, said the new Bill should also
ensure corporate social responsibility is mandatory.
Matabeleland South chairperson of Small-Scale Miners and Mineral Association, Philemon
Mokoelo, said a certain percentage should be channeled towards social responsibility to
develop areas from which they make their wealth.
We also sat down as local small-scale miners and saw it fit to lobby that foreign miners
should pay 10 percent to traditional leaders, which would be channeled towards social
responsibility, while roads, schools and clinics should be built to benefit the locals, he said.
Gwanda resident, James Dube, proposed the involvement of environmental assessment of
land by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) as a way to safeguard the
environment.
The role of EMA should be prioritised in the Bill. The Bill should tackle the environmental
assessment plan. The impact of land degradation is highly noted in mines and the Bill is silent
about it.
I also propose 16 percent of mineral production to be disbursed to the local community to
develop its surroundings. While strategic minerals should be decentralised and easily
accessed by everyone rather than being exported outside the country," he said.
Umzingwane Famers’ Association chairperson, Thandazani Sibanda, proposed the protection
of farming areas that are violated during the extraction of minerals.
Miners uproot land, risking cattle falling underground and fueling land damage. The Bill
should give free reign of land authority especially when one has title deeds," Sibanda said.
The Mines and Mineral Parliament Portfolio Committee led by Chairperson, Edmond
Mkaratingwa, is currently on a nation-wide public hearing drive to craft a bill, as mandated
by Constitution of Zimbabwe in section 141.
All the views will be taken into consideration, we seek to revive the mines’ laws, which date
back to 1965. Let’s encourage people from all walks of life to partake in this crucial bid,
Mkaratingwa said.
