The ministry is this week holding consultative forums involving relevant stakeholders aimed at discussing amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act of 1961.
A survey carried out by the Centre for Research and Development in the past month showed that mining companies operating under the special mining grants in Manicaland Province were politically connected and extremely powerful.
According to the CRD report, communities living in the diamond mining areas have no legal basis for environmental, social, economic and cultural rights and the advent of formal mining operations brought an end to a thriving informal diamond mining and trade activities.
In Marange, Manicaland province, the government drove out thousands of panners in 2008 and 2009 through Operation Hakudzokwi. Increased security measures in the diamond fields drove the remaining illegal panners out of Marange to seek alternative shelter in communities around Nyanyadzi, Chakohwa, Chasiyama and Hot Springs business centres.
The survey, involving mining communities from Chimanimani West in Manicaland, showed that mining companies have not only impoverished the communities where they are extracting mineral wealth, but “they are also responsible for human rights abuses and environmental degradation without any notion of guilt”.
Findings from the survey showed that the pieces of legislation that are currently governing mining practices are difficult to implement and there is “fragmentation of responsibilities reflected in the survey between Zimbabwe National Water Authority and Environmental Management Agency on water pollution”.
“Corporate social responsibility is not a legal issue and mining companies are not bound by it, hence findings that there are high levels of underdevelopment in communities where diamonds and gold are being mined,” reads part of the report. “The state and mining companies can easily displace helpless villagers without compensation as in the case of Marange.”
Post published in: News