‘Review status of informal sector’ | The Herald April 11, 2016
Bianca Leboho Herald reporter
PARLIAMENTARIANS have called on Government to review the status of the informal sector, particularly the artisanal and small-scale mining in the constitution. In a question and answer session in Parliament on Tuesday, Chegutu West legislator Cde Dexter Nduna implored Government to revisit the regulatory framework which controls the informal sector, saying there was need to include artisanal and small scale mining in the Mines and Minerals Act.
“I call upon the executive to adapt to the new normal and review the Mines and Minerals Act to include artisanal and small scale mining,” he said. Cde Nduna said there was need for Government to repeal sections of the Gold Trade Act and the Mines and Minerals Act which criminalised artisanal mining as a sector.
“Section 3 of the Gold Trade Act must be repealed because it criminalises the possession of gold and imposes stiff penalties for possession,” said Cde Nduna. “Sections 365-368 of the Mines and Minerals Act also need to be repealed because they criminalise prospecting by artisanal miners,” said Cde Nduna.
He called for decriminalisation of artisanal mining through the creation of objective, transparent and inclusive regulatory mechanisms which would offer easy access to mining titles and legal production channels.
“There is need to create an enabling framework which integrates the artisanal mining sector into the local community and encourages investment of profits in other forms of economic activity and services,” he said.
At a recent artisanal and small-scale mining dialogue meeting, Zimbabwe Miners Federation chief executive officer, Mr Wellington Takavarasha, said the Mines and Minerals Bill of 2013 also sidelined artisanal and small scale miners.
“The sidelining of artisanal and small-scale mining in both the 1963 Mines and Minerals Act and the current Mines and Minerals Bill is worrisome considering that we have about one million people employed under that sector,” said Mr Takavarasha.
Informal mining was criminalised in 2006 until 2013 when Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa announced Government’s plans to decriminalise the artisanal mining sector.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya said decriminalisation of the artisanal mining sector would help reduce smuggling and encourage the sale of more gold to the State.
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