Persecuting artisanal miners is biting the hand that’s feeds us
Chegutu West member of Parliament Dexter Nduna has called on the government to legalise the informal mining sector in order to boost deliveries to the country’s sole gold buyer and exporter Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) and also to protect the environment from illegal digging.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Nduna said that criminalising the artisanal mining sector will not help the country but fuel gold leakages and environmental degradations.
“These miners will not stop mining, they’re getting what they can and caning what they get at the detriment of the Environment. The year that artisanal mining was banned, gold deliveries to Fidelity declined” said Nduna.
Nduna called on the government to stop persecuting artisanal miners until the mines law the government is working on is enacted, Nduna also said that the miners must not be arrested when taking their gold to fidelity.
“Let small scale miners be immune to arrest when they sell their gold. Artisanal miners have become a playground for corrupt police, artisanal miners should not be arrested until mines law is enacted” said Nduna.
Nduna also urged the government to implement the ” use it or lose it” policy in order to benefit these artisanal miners.
“These claims are owned by foreign conglomerate companies and are held for speculative purposes, take them and give them to artisanal miners,” said Nduna.
Nduna also said that since small scale and artisanal miners are delivering much gold than the large scale to the government, the government must recognise and support them, by persecuting them, the country is biting the hand that feeds it.
“Let us recognise artisanal miners, we are biting the hand that feeds us,” he said.
The Chegutu MP also encouraged the government to offer loans to these miners.
“The gold they’re delivering to fidelity should be security,” Nduna said.