CNRG defends the rights of communities affected by extractive industries whilst acknowledging the role of minerals in driving the world economy. Based in our experiences in Zimbabwe, we have come face to face with the deleterious effects of mining on defenseless communities. The violence, land dispossessions, water grabbing and pollution and cultural violations are rising at an alarming scale. 1

Today, the 18th of July, Nelson Mandela would have turned 100! Today in Johannesburg the Elders, in partnership with Sparks of Hope will honor one hundred organizations from around the world whose work advances the ideals and goals of equality and human dignity pursued by Nelson Mandela. We are very much humbled that Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) was selected to be a Spark of Hope whose story will be told by The Elders. We feel delighted for this recognition in honor of a freedom icon who, though departed, continues to speak to the world through his phenomenal struggle for human dignity. 1

BY CENTRE FOR NATURAL RESOURCE GOVERNANCE July2018 Zimbabwe’s President Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa recently announced that his administration had acquired $1 billion funding from China for the expansion of the Hwange Thermal Power Station. Mr. Mnangagwa said when completed, the project—contracted to a Chinese firm Sino Hydro—would add 600 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, in addition to the current installed capacity of 920 megawatts. 1

For five years now, the Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL),

Center for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) held an All-Stakeholders Conference in the coal-mining town of Hwange on 25 June 2018. The conference, which included a panel discussion with five aspiring parliamentary candidates for Hwange Central, followed a protracted protest by women in Hwange who pitched a tent at the Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) premises on the 29^thof January 2018 demanding that the company pays their spouses their outstanding dues. Although the women called off the strike early May, CNRG established that deep-seated problems persist in Hwange. 1

The month of March holds a special place in my heart as women from different backgrounds converge in order to share their successes, assess their shortfalls and collectively seek ways to strengthen their voices against retrogressive forces that hinder their realization of their basic rights.However, women in mining communities have little to celebrate within the Zimbabwean context, given the ever increasing discrimination against women in the recruitment of workers, increasing incidences of violence against women, limited food security options, coupled with unwanted pregnancies from foreign mine workers and the need for developing realistic alternatives to the destructive mining practices.

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02 November 2016

 Yesterday, 1 November 2016, more than 500 people gathered together in Marange, a vast diamond field stretching over 66,000 hectares in the east of Zimbabwe, near to the Mozambican border, to remember all those who lost their lives, lands and livelihoods in one among the saddest page of post-independence Zimbabwean history.

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Gold and diamond panning has traditionally been associated with uncivil, fierce-looking men, with women often expected to perform more feminine roles. However, this widely shared societal perception has been debunked as over the years more women have joined the once male-dominated mining sector. Desperate to feed their families, it is a common sight in Penhalonga to observe artisanal female gold miners tapping into this once predominantly masculine working environment.

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