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Mthabisi Tshuma, Business Correspondent
LEGISLATORS have called for increased awareness campaigns about the novel coronavirus in mining communities to curb the spread of the pandemic among mining workers.

This comes after the Government has granted the mining sector the greenlight to operate alongside other essential service providers despite the extended lockdown period. This means big mines as well as small-scale miners would operate at normal capacity during lockdown. President Mnangagwa announced a 14- day lockdown extension on Sunday.

While those granted essential service status are obliged to come up with a comprehensive Covid-19 prevention and containment response plan, legislators said the knowledge gap was wide among small scale miners.

In separate interviews after a tour of the Insiza and Umzingwane districts’ isolation centres on Saturday, Insiza North MP Farai Taruvinga said small-scale gold miners who constitute a large number of the formal sector in his constituency lacked adequate knowledge on how best they can operate during the epidemic.

“In Insiza most developments in the communities are necessitated by the small-scale gold miners and taking that to note with the situation we are faced with now, there is a need to educate them on Covid-19.

“To ensure that the sector blooms during this period and our economy is stable, the safety of the sector is of paramount importance and that can only be achieved if the personnel have requisite knowledge on the pandemic,” said Taruvinga.

He urged the miners to cooperate with health officials and follow set regulations to curb the spread of the virus.

“As we fight coronavirus, there is a need for the miners to work closely together with health authorities by following the rules, which include avoiding working in crowded places,” he said.

His Insiza South counterpart, Spare Sithole, said they were working with the local task force team to map a way forward on how to deal with illegal miners and amacimbi harvesters.

“We are working with the district Covid-19 taskforce to advise and map the way forward of mitigating the spread of the virus and we are utilising social media to spread the message.

“On the issue of amacimbi harvesters and the illegal miners there is need for the security forces to be firm in enforcing the law,” he said.

He said there was also a need for the law enforcers to deal with people who abuse their positions.

“In cases where there are people who abuse their positions for example either a councillor or MP by ferrying people to harvest amacimbi or a crowd to the mines that should be seriously dealt with. There is a need for people to follow regulations,” he said. — @mthabisi_mthire.