Humanitarian crisis loom as Zanu PF chefs kicks out artisanal miners

via Humanitarian crisis loom as Zanu PF chefs kicks out artisanal miners – NewsDay Zimbabwe July 6, 2015

THE Zimbabwe Informal Sectors Organisation (Ziso) on Friday said a humanitarian crisis was looming in Bindura where hundreds of artisanal gold miners were left stranded after they were kicked out of Kitsiyatota Mine by members of the Police Support Unit.

BY STAFF WRITER

In a statement, Ziso described the evictions as “brutal” adding that some of the desperate miners ended up selling their mining equipment for a song to raise bus fares back to their homes.

“The knee-jerk evictions carried out without prior notice have created a humanitarian crisis in Bindura as hundreds of miners have been left stranded after being forced to abandon their gold ore at the mercy of Zanu PF bigwigs who control the mining activities at Kitsiyatota,” Ziso said.

The organisation added: “The crackdown was brutal that desperate miners who were not given a chance to wind up operations by the merciless riot police ended up selling their mining equipment like generators for as low as $5 just to enable them to travel back to their respective homes.

“They are failing to raise bus fares to return to their homes, and they are slowly turning the area around Oval Canteen in Bindura into a squatter settlement, as well as resorting to criminal activities to make ends meet.

“The move highlights government’s determination to decimate the very informal sector they encouraged through the ill-advised indigenisation and empowerment policy. The mining activities which were being done under Women in Mining were sanctioned by the First Lady Grace Mugabe when she visited the province during her Meet the People rallies.”

Ziso recommended that government should facilitate for the affected miners to be allowed to remove their gold so that they could take it for milling.