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Wellington Takavarasha

Midlands Correspondent
ARTISANAL miners at Peace Mine have defied a directive by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to stop mining operations at the gold mine.

The panners are allegedly led by Silobela Community Development Trust chairman, Arthur Nkiwane, who is reportedly not happy with a new arrangement where a special purpose vehicle, View Rise (Pvt) Ltd, comprising the Trust, Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF), Yagden Engineering and Zimbabwe Schools of Mines, was given the nod to run operations at the mine.

ZMF chief executive officer Wellington Takavarasha accused Nkiwane of defying a government directive and said Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa is now seized with the matter.

“Nkiwane is blatantly defying a government directive (and) the mine operations have been suspended but he’s still mining. He has stopped mine machinery from entering the mine and has organised Amakorokoza (panners) on his side to incite violence,” said Takavarasha.

“The minister (Walter Chidhakwa) is working to have the mine operate in terms of the Mines and Minerals Act”.

ZMF was given the mandate to oversee operations at the mine after a red flag was raised on transparency and corporate governance issues.

Takavarasha said there are fears that gold being declared was understated.

The government, through ZMF, in its drive to formalise artisanal miners, wants to ensure that Peace Mine becomes a model of the formalisation initiative.

Silobela Community Development Trust has over 1,000 artisanal miners who have contributed to increased gold production from an average of three kilogrammes (kgs) per month to 7kgs per month.

Meanwhile, Martha Moyo, a member of the Silobela Community Development Trust, has made a police report against Nkiwane and the trust treasurer, Chipo Muhau, on allegations of “theft of trust funds and corruption and other charges”.

The report was made at Silobela Police Station.

Efforts to get comment from Nkiwane were futile as his mobile phone was not reachable.