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GOLD panners have unleashed a reign of terror in Malungwane Village in Umzingwane District, Matabeleland South attacking villagers with axes, machetes and knobkerries.

The development has seen the community members sleeping in maize fields fearing being attacked at their homes while asleep.

The gold panners referred to as AmaNkayi as they are said to be coming from Nkayi district, attacking villagers even during the day.

Last Saturday, the group is said to have set base in the nearby mountain from where it is launching forays into the village.

A Chronicle news crew on Thursday visited the village which is about 20km from Esigodini where the community narrated their terror stories.

So timid were the community members that only the village head Mr Zacchaeus Mlalazi, agreed to speak on record.

Upon arrival at the village at about 2pm, the news crew spoke to a woman who was at her homestead but as the crew started talking about the gold panners issue, she politely asked the team to go and talk to the men in the village, directing reporters where to go.

Following her instruction, the news crew visited another homestead where it found a male occupant who admitted that they indeed were having problems with illegal gold panners but also declined to comment about the issue.

He referred the news crew to the area’s village head who was not at home.

The news crew proceeded to a fourth homestead and luckily its occupants although declining to be identified opened up on the harrowing experiences at the hands of the illegal gold miners.

They said some of the villagers are now forced to sleep in the maize fields fearing being raided by the gold panners.

“We have a serious problem; I don’t want to lie to you, I understand when people say they don’t want to speak about it but that is the situation we have here. It’s a long standing problem, we are constantly being brutalised by a group of illegal gold panners that live in that mountain (showing the news crew the mountain). They come here armed with knives, machetes, knobkerries and axes or any dangerous weapon you can think of. They can walk in and just start beating up people for no reason. This happens especially when they have altercations in the gold belt,” said the villager.

He said last Saturday three community members were attacked with axes by the illegal gold panners.

The villager said the gang came on the same day and also raided a local tuck-shop getting away with US$45 and R50.

“About a month ago they attacked someone and he fell unconscious in my yard. He was awakened by a light drizzle. The incidents are just countless. We have called the police but they never come. It’s as if we are a neglected community but it will be better if you talk to our village head, he knows all our cries and he will explain better. We don’t know if the police want to come on the ground when there is a body,” he said.

The news crew drove to the village head’s mine claim several kilometres from the village where the old man said he was distressed with the attacks happening to his people.

He said the community has lost faith with the law enforcement agents.

“We have tried to engage the police countless times but not even once have they responded to reports of attacks by these gangs.

“Our boys had to take matters into their hands a few days back and they fought back and captured two of the gang members. I personally phoned Esigodini police to come and take away the criminals but they said they had no car and asked us to bring the criminals to the police station. Our boys who arrested the gang members were part of the team that escorted them to the police station but things took a strange turn at the police station as our boys were arrested for assaulting them. They were charged for assault. The police officers even said the weapons that we brought as evidence belonged to our boys,” said Mr Mlalazi.

Village head Zaachaeus Mlalazi

He said what is worrying the community is that some cops have mining interests with some of the illegal miners also working for them.
Mr Mlalazi said some police officers own metal detectors used by the illegal miners.

“It therefore does not really surprise us that police seem to be disinterested in responding to crime in our village. So many villagers have had a near death encounter with these illegal miners. These people have been living in the mountains for years and nothing has been done to stop the attacks,” said Mr Mlalazi.

Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Loveness Mangena said she had not received details about the matter hence she could not be drawn to comment about it.

Zanu-PF Umzingwane legislator Brigadier General (Retired) Levi Mayihlome said while he is not aware of the attacks on villagers in Malungwane and the nearby Bayethe villages.

Commenting on the allegations that police were not responding to villagers’ call for hel, Cde Mayihlome said it will not be fair to lay all the blame on the police as they are resource-constrained and do not have cars that are necessary in responding to crime incidents.

“I might not have the details about the case you are referring to but what I know is that the area has a lot of illegal gold panners who are a problem. Also, police do not have resources, they don’t have cars to respond to crime reports. Imagine police have to travel about 80km to respond to a crime scene. So, we have decided to donate a car to the police so that they can effectively respond to crime reports in the constituency,” he said.

Meanwhile, Artisanal miners are reportedly wreaking havoc in Mahindi Village under chief Mataruse in Mberengwa, digging in the fields, cemeteries and near homesteads following a gold rush in the area.

Villagers said they were now living in fear of the illegal miners whose activities have damaged nearby houses and other structures.

The villagers said several houses have since developed some cracks due to blasting by the illegal miners.

Village heads and some community leaders have also reportedly joined the gold rush.

Chief Mataruse confirmed the gold rush in the area.

The chief said he had tasked the local village head, Mr Manyadza Shumba to handle the matter.

Mr Shumba confirmed that there is mining activities in his village.

He said they were working on regularising the mining activities.

“It’s a blessing that gold was discovered in my area and it will help the community a lot. Yesterday we were in Gweru at the Mines and Mining Development Ministry, regularising the mining activities in the area and we are working on processing the papers so that we conduct lawful and proper mining,” he said.

Mr Shumba said he approached the police to stop the illegal mining activities.

“There was violence with people attacking each other using machetes so police intervened and there is order now. We are now working on regularising the mining activities which will involve the whole community,” he said.

Midlands provincial mining engineer, Mr Tariro Ndlovu was not available for a comment yesterday.

A villager said they were now living in fear of violent illegal miners.

“We are now living in fear of these miners because of their violent nature, there is nothing we can do even if they set their explosives just beneath our houses, it’s difficult to reprimand them. It seems they are determined to displace everyone here because even the local village heads who should be our voice have joined the gold rush and are being given money by the artisanal miners,” said one of the villagers, Mr Saxon Dube.

He said they have since approached the office of the provincial mining engineer in an effort to find a lasting solution after several other officials failed to assist them.

“There is now a group of influential people which is working with the local village head and have named them Budiriro Syndicate. They are the ones who give the artisanal miners the greenlight to mine and these illegal miners will in turn pay a fee to this syndicate, its chaotic, he said.

Another villager, Mrs Caroline Manjiche said her house developed a huge crack after it gave in to some blasting which was taking place in the area.

She said their livestock was also being trapped in huge pits left open by the artisanal miners as they search for the precious mineral.

“We urgently call for action from the powers that be so that these illegal mining activities are stopped. They are digging up our fields, our homes are no longer safe and our livestock is under threat,” she said.

The Chronicle

Zimbabwe recorded its lowest monthly exports in nine months after January export earnings amounted to just US$282,9 million with gold exports at their lowest since November 2018. 

According to figures released by ZimStat, the January export out-turn is only higher than the US$200,4 million worth of exports recorded in April last year.  

The figure also compares unfavourably to the US$397,7 million worth of exports recorded in January 2020 or US$292,6 million in January 2019.  

The January 2021 export earnings are also the third-lowest in the last 12 months, a period which has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

If this trend continues, it might be of major concern to authorities banking on increased export earnings for currency stability. 

The huge drop in export earnings can be attributed to a significant drop in exports of Nickel Mattes which stood at US$39,5 million,  the lowest in 12 months down from US$149 million worth of Nickel Mattes exported earnings recorded in December 2020. In January 2020, US$48,9 million worth of Nickel Mattes were exported.  

Gold export earnings also took a huge knock with semi-manufactured gold earning the country just US$55,7 million down from US$105 million the previous month of December. January 2021’s gold export earnings are also lower than those of January 2020 at US$104 million. January 2020 was however not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as has been the case this time around.   

We have to go back to November 2018 when gold exports earned US$47,5 million to find earnings that were below the US$55 million recorded in January.   

Tobacco was also another export that significantly dropped to US$34,6 million from US$74,6 million in December last year. 

The January 2021 tobacco earnings out-turn was below that of January 2020 at US$74,8 million.  

Meanwhile, the January 2021 import bill of US$460,3 million though lower than the December bill of US$527 million was more than enough to send the country into a trade deficit of US$178 million. 

The January 2021 import bill was the third highest in 12 months. 

Maize imports amounting to US$26 million was the biggest import bill for the month. The country has imported maize worth US$300,4 million in the last 12 months. 

Diesel followed with US$19,5 million while soyabean, rice, electricity, petrol among others had import bills above US$7 million each. 

Business Weekly

The Zimbabwe government in 2015 rejected the winner of a tender to install a 200MW diesel power plant because the company is part-owned by Madeline Albright, the former US Secretary of State, and authorities saw this as a threat to national security.

APR Energy, based in Florida, was the winning bidder in a tender to supply emergency diesel electricity, at a time the country was in a power crisis. But authorities rejected APR and then broke tender rules to handpick Kuda Tagwirei’s Sakunda instead, according to a 2019 PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report into power utility ZESA. The report is currently under scrutiny at Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

The auditors say the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) on November 26, 2015, ordered the Ministry of Energy to conduct due diligence on Sakunda’s submission for the project. This is despite Sakunda not having participated in the tender, in which APR competed with two other firms, Glasgow-based Aggreko and Altaaqa of the UAE.

Auditors interviewed Patson Mbiriri, then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, on why government dumped APR.

“He stated that the concerns were arising from the fact that APR was an American company and specifically because the company was owned by Ms. Madeleine Albright,” the audit report says. “Mr Mbiriri stated that the concern was that APR, considering its shareholding, on a national project would have posed a serious security threat to Zimbabwe.”

In 2015, Albright’s investment fund, Albright Capital Management, and Quantum Strategic Partners, a hedge fund tied to billionaire George Soros, bought a controlling stake in APR for US$250 million. The transaction happened around the same time that APR had placed its bid for the diesel power plant in Zimbabwe.

The ruling ZANU-PF government has also routinely accused Soros of funding its opponents.

US-Zimbabwe: no love lost

APR’s treatment has been a sore point in already strained relations between Zimbabwe and America.

“American firm won tender and was ready to provide top-quality construction of Dema Power Plant in 2016, but the contract was taken away and given to Sakunda, who never bid on the tender,” the US embassy tweeted in 2019.

The US last year imposed sanctions on Tagwirei and Sakunda, citing his alleged role in government corruption.

APR supplies small-scale power plants that can be installed quickly to work around short-term power supply problems. It has a presence in Botswana, Angola and other African counties, a factor that had worked in its favour during adjudication.

Says the audit report: “According to (ZESA Projects Manager) Ms. (Flora) Chikonye, the three companies were selected by a Committee made up of ZESA Holdings, ZETDC and ZPC staff. Ms Chikonye stated that the Committee based its selection on the fact that these companies were reputable and had a good track record in Africa.”

But, the auditors found, this was not enough to convince government, which ordered the project to be given to Sakunda instead. The OPC, the audit said, also cited indigenisation laws for its preference for Sakunda. This was despite the fact that APR also had a local partner, Zuva Petroleum.

The auditors pointed out: “The due diligence report stated that the directive by the OPC to perform due diligence on Sakunda’s submission was in line with Government’s policy on indigenisation per the ZimAsset programme. We noted however that the structure of the Sakunda-Aggreko partnership was similar to APR’s partnership with Zuva Petroleum. Both partnerships involved a local fuel supplier and a foreign plant provider. It therefore brings to question why indigenisation would have been used as a criteria to appoint Sakunda instead of APR.”

The auditors showed a comparison of Sakunda’s submission and APR’s offer.

Press reports in 2015 said Tagwirei had partnered former President Robert Mugabe’s in-law, Derrek Chikore, in the Dema project.

After Sakunda bagged the project, it went on to appoint Aggreko, a losing bidder, as a partner. Up to that point, Aggreko had previously made several failed bids to set up diesel power plants in Zimbabwe.

In November 2015, Tagwirei wrote a letter, accompanying Sakunda’s submission for the project, stating that he was partnering Aggreko.

“As the setting up of diesel generator plants is a highly technical area, it is questionable why Sakunda having presented its tender as the main bidder were awarded the contract,” the auditors said.

NewZwire

Zimbabwe miners say the increase in the export surrender requirement to 40% is hurting production, resulting in serious shortfalls as they battle to sustain operations in the capital-intensive sector.

The mining sector generates more than 60% of Zimbabwe’s foreign currency revenue.

On January 7 this year, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) increased the export surrender requirement on all export receipts to 40% from 30%.

Miners say they are already battling serious shortfalls in meeting their obligations that require forex as well as finding it difficult to sustain production.

The auction system, several miners say, was failing to adequately supply the greenback to the miners.

Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe chief executive Isaac Kwesu said the sector was engaging the central bank over the matter.

“We are engaging with the view that the retention may be reviewed. It’s the matter we are seized with,” Kwesu said.

Central bank chief John Mangudya had not responded to enquiries by Business Times by the time of going to print.

Recently, Mangudya said that exporters facing shortfalls were now allowed to participate in the forex auction system.

But, some miners were saying they were not getting sufficient forex from the auction system.

Kwesu said the Chamber was still assessing the situation at the auction system.

“Our engagements with the monetary authorities on the matter are ongoing. The current position of the RBZ on the issue is as announced in the latest Monetary Policy Committee and also highlights that in the meantime exporters who have shortfalls in their forex requirements will be allowed to participate at the auction market,” Kwesu said.

“Thus we will also be engaging to ensure the efficiency of the auction market is such that all genuine exporter bids get priority in accessing forex timeously and in adequate volumes.”

Previously, the miners were forced to liquidate all unutilised export proceeds after 60 days.

But, the MPC scrapped the compulsory requirement in January this year.

Instead, the apex bank increased the surrender threshold to 40% from 30% with the central bank saying this would fund the forex auction system.

In his monetary policy statement, Mangudya said the bank would maintain and sustain the auction system through the 40% export surrender requirement, 20% domestic foreign exchange sales surrender requirement and 15% foreign exchange contribution from the fiscus.

He said the bank would continue refining the foreign exchange auction system taking into account fundamentals as well as closely monitoring the utilisation of funds.

The capital intensive mining sector requires over US$3bn to increase production.

However, miners believe the monetary authority’s decision to increase the surrender requirements were severely affecting their production cycle.

The ministry of Mines and Mining Development is working on a plan to transform mining into a US$12bn by 2023 from about US$3bn.

This would be achieved through the creation of an enabling environment, removal of restrictions, increased exploration, expansion of existing mining projects, and resuscitation of closed mines, opening of new mines and mineral beneficiation and value addition.

The mining sector is projected to rebound by 11% this year driven by planned expansion programmes aimed at increasing production by miners. The sector is projected to have contracted to -4.7% in 2020.

Business Times

The first open pit blast has been successfully detonated at Eureka Gold Mine ahead of production resumption, Dallaglio Investments have said.

Reconstruction works at the mine were commissioned by President Mnangagwa in 2018 as part of a grand strategy to maximise on the country’s economic endowment and driving the economy towards an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

Since then, Dallaglio Investments have splurged millions in a bid to return the mine to full production which is expected to start in the third quarter of this year.

In an interview, Dallaglio Investments’ Business Improvements Specialist Loveness Chiyanike, said the successful blast marks a huge milestone in the mine construction.

Chiyanike also expressed confidence that the mine is on course to achieve its reopening timeframe this year a development that will go a long way towards the attainment of the mining sector’s US$12 billion 2023 milestone.

“We have had our first blast (at Eureka) and we are really excited about it,” said Chiyanike.

“We are still inspecting the pit and we have so far observed that it went well and we are looking forward to having our second blast on Saturday.

“Everything around the reopening is going on as planned and its exciting times ahead for us,” she said.

Eureka was forced to shut operations after running into viability problems two decades ago with capital at the center of the mine’s troubles.

The first blast was preceded by the delivery of two state-of-the-art heavy-duty gold mills on site in February.

Dallaglio Investments’ splurging of capital into Eureka comes as the miner has confirmed that exploration week have shown that the mine has a resource base worth over US$1 billion.

The expected resumption of full production at Eureka could see Daglallio – which also owns Pickstone Peerless Mine near Chegutu – boost its production to about four tonnes per annum.

Business Weekly