Police raids farmhouses in search of illegal miners in Mazoe
In an attempt to clean the area off illegal miners, the police in Mazoe harrassed Mahachi farmworkers with some accusing the Police of looting food from their houses in the process.
By D.R Mapuranga
The farm manager called Teddy said that the police harassed farmworkers who stay at the farm, looting their food and bringing down some structures belonging to the farm workers under the motive that they were looking for illegal miners who had found refuge at the farm resident.
“The police are the ones who forced themselves into the houses without any search warrants, breaking down properties,” said Teddy .
According to Metallon gold’s Mazowe Mine General Manager Mr Stanley Matanhire, the heavy police presence in the area was a cleanup campaign to remove illegal miners from operating in the area.
The miners are reportedly causing unnecessary fights and deaths in the area.
“Right now, there is an operation to clear off illegal miners,” said Matanhire.
Recently over 8 miners were reportedly dead in Mazoe at Jumbo mine under Metallon gold, Metallon has been forced to put its mines on care and maintenance because of the unsustainable costs of running them without proper compensation for its proceeds from the Government of Zimbabwe.
This has however caused illegal miners from as far as the Midlands to come and mine in the mine shafts which are said to be very rich in gold, these miners have caused disturbances in the area which partly led to police presence in the area.
According to locals who spoke to Mining Zimbabwe, the police are running a syndicate on which they are making miners to enter into the shafts at a tollgate fee.
“Miners who mine in the tunnels at Jumbo mine pay USD100 to enter the shafts and then other USD130 to come out of the mines,” they said.
Mazowe Mine is one of the oldest mines in Zimbabwe, and exploration and development in this region dates back to 1890, with over 1.4 million ounces of gold produced to date. Mazowe Mine comprises two underground operations, Mazowe and the BSV sections. The mine has a total of 247 claims over 2,939 hectares of landholding. Ore is processed in a single plant which consists of conventional crushing and milling and a carbon-in-leach facility.