Mines bill fails to clearly define ASM miners – Mkaratigwa
Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development has expressed concern over the failure of the Mines and Minerals amendment bill to clearly define artisanal miners who have been making significant strides towards economic development.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking at the Capacity Building Workshop on the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill for the Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development in Bulawayo, Chairperson of the committee Hon Edmond Mkaratigwa said the bill remained silent on recognizing and defining artisanal miners.
He added on saying recognizing this sector will make it easy to regulate and collect taxes from the sector.
“Let us not shy away from acknowledging that artisanal and small-scale miners have been making significant economic contributions, particularly in the gold sector where at times they have surpassed large-scale producers in terms of output. Sometime last year I attended a workshop where the small-scale miners and local authorities were at loggerheads on an acceptable size of a claim for a small-scale miner. I remember the local authorities were advocating for at least 20 hectares in order to accommodate everyone, particularly the youth, given that land does not expand. I will however leave this issue to the experts and practitioners represented here by ZMF, local authorities, our consultants and Honorable Members present among others. I also noted with concern that the Bill remained silent on recognizing and defining an artisanal miner. Yet, there are so many of them located in our constituencies and in most mining districts across the country. It is important that they are recognized and legally integrated into the mainstream economy. It will be much easier for the Government to regulate and collect taxes from a sector clearly recognized by and at law,” Hon Mkaratigwa said.
Mkaratigwa said if the bill clearly defines and recognises artisanal miners, it will be a great advantage for the government to curb illicit financial flows necessitated by the failure to account for the miners.
“Several towns in Zimbabwe have emerged as a result of mining and vivid examples are Kwekwe, Shurugwi and Zvishavane among others. Our producers, under the Chamber of Mines and ZMF, should therefore be applauded for keeping our economy going. Nevertheless, the downside of things is that not all mining revenue is finding its way to the fiscus. Part of the mining revenues are lost through illicit financial flows and Zimbabwe lost close to USD12 billion by the year ending 2010,” he said.
There are over 45 000 formal jobs in the mining industry and approximately 500 000 people are employed directly as artisanal and small-scale miners.