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Business Writer

THE movement of critical agriculture inputs to the prime farming Mashonaland Central province is severely  hampered by rampant illegal gold mining operations which have left  the Harare-Shamva railway line badly damaged.

The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) says it has witnessed an unprecedented upsurge in illegal gold mining activities along the railway line, resulting in huge damages to infrastructure.

The damages have made it difficult to run trains on the line, particularly the Bindura-Shamva lap.

Last week, there was a major derailment on an extensively damaged siding leading to the premises of FSG, a key fertiliser company in Bindura.

NRZ Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations Manager, Mr Andrew Kunambura said the damage has, in some sections, been so severe that the tracks were left suspended above the ground after illegal gold panners removed ballast in the mistaken belief that the stones contain gold deposits.

He said the upsurge in illegal gold mining on the tracks has compelled the NRZ to launch an operation targeting the panners.

The operation, carried out in conjunction with the police, has seen 20 illegal miners being arrested over the past seven days.

Mr Kunambura said the illegal gold miners were showing a total disregard of the law, especially the Railways Act, by conducting their activities along the tracks.

Under the Railways Act, no mining activity should take place 45 metres from the centre of the track.

However, the panners are prospecting for gold just a metre from the railway line while others are digging for gold in between rails.

Mr Kunambura said the illegal gold panning activities were prevalent between the 109 and 114 km peg on the Bindura-Shamva railway line.

He said the NRZ was forced to suspend train services between Bindura and Shamva because of damage to infrastructure caused by the rampant illegal gold mining activities which made movement of trains unsafe.

“To date 20 accused persons have been arrested. However, they get away with US$30 fines at the police station, which we feel is too lenient. The Raiways Act clearly specifies that such vandals targeting this critical national infrastructure should be jailed for a mandatory 10 years,” Kunambura said.

“After paying the fine, they are happy to return to their illegal acts. Engagements to correct this are underway,” he said.

Mr Kunambura said illegal mining activities within the railway reserve had an adverse effect on NRZ operations as they could cause derailments resulting in deaths and damage to customers’ goods as well as delays in the delivery of essential cargo such as fertilizers and other farming inputs.

“The 2023-24 farming season is underway and as a logistics company, we contribute by ensuring inputs get to the farmer on time. This is being complicated by these illegal miners. And we are saying we will not rest until the last vandal is caged.”

“On some stretches, the illegal miners are extracting ballast from the line which they wrongly believe to bear gold deposits, thereby severely damaging the rails and renderimg the tracks unsuitable for train movement. Other seriously affected areas include Amatola Siding, Simona siding, Trojan and FSG lines.