Gold mining companies and syndicates in Penhalonga have been urged to work on developing hosting communities, protecting the environment, and preserving human rights the WEEKLY can reveal.
Speaking emotionally charged during the official opening of a classroom block at Tsvingwe Primary School in Penhalonga, two weeks ago Chief James Mutasa claimed that the area’s gold mining had stunted development, which should have benefited the community.
Chief Mutasa said local communities have instead been left to bear the brunt of environmental degradation and externalized costs of mining without tangible socioeconomic development.
Chief Mutasa’s remarks contextualize the plunder of the gold in Penhalonga communal lands following the temporary closure of Metallon Gold’s, Redwing Mine. Areas around the mine are operated by Betterbrands Private Limited a firm owned by ZANU PF’s Scott Sakupwanya.
“If you have mined gold in Mutasa leave behind roads, build schools and infrastructure. I am not happy when we look at the roads that lead to the gold mines when miners come in without leaving any tangible benefits.
“How can we have miners that use our local roads in their deplorable state when they are siphoning gold from our local community,” said Chief Mutasa.
He added, “We should be forcing the miners to attend to infrastructure development, Minister of State we should have a sit down with them and agree on their operational models and how they give back to the community.”
Chief Mutasa urged council to direct devolution funds towards building schools and he applauded the local council for prioritizing education infrastructure.
“Devolution funds that are being directed to the roads by the RDC, the people that are using the roads and damaging they should be forced to attend to the roads of the area.
“We want the Rural District Council to focus on improving the education standards of the community instead of utilizing devolution funds on roads,” he said.
However, Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) deputy programs officer Tracy Mutowekuziva said the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is voluntary as there is no specific law that makes it mandatory.
She said the onus of developing infrastructure, funding education remains a responsibility of government and the local authorities which charges taxes and royalties from the mining industry.
“The issue of corporate social responsibility is a problematic issue because it is not binding but it is at the whims and the will of the mining companies whether they want to develop the area. Mining companies pay their taxes to the government and government should distribute the money to local authorities.
“Because of a weak legal framework and institutions its not easy to track how much money the government is receiving from the mining companies. There is need for government to come up with a robust taxing system and benefit sharing scheme for local communities to benefit from the extraction of minerals,” she said.
Chief Mutasa castigated the artisanal miners for engaging in unregulated mining activities that have led to an invasion of communal ritual areas without respect to local culture.
“We don’t want people on top of the mountains, if you go to premier there is a mountain that is near depletion. We will soon go to that mining company and protest until we stop the mining activities because they are a threat to our culture,” said Chief Mutasa.