The plight of women in Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector

CLOUDINE MATOLA RECENTLY IN ZVISHAVANE

Small-scale and artisanal gold miners in Zimbabwe have emerged as the industry mainstay, smashing production records and producing more gold than the big mining companies.

Official data indicates that the country’s sole  buyer and marketer of the yellow metal, Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR), received 30.11 tons of gold from the country’s miners in 2023.
Of this, more than 18 tonnes of gold came from small-scale and artisanal gold miners, with the remaining amount coming from large gold miners and secondary miners.

More than 90 % of gold deposits in Zimbabwe are found in the Gemstone Belts. And according to official data obtained from the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe, the significant rise in small scale mining outfits, which however do not get the respect and recognition they probably deserve, saw the sector contributing 47% of the country’s total  gold output compared to  46% delivered by big mining houses. The balance was delivered by secondary miners.

A visit by Business Times to claims around the mining town of Zvishavane revealed that small scale miners risked their lives to extract the much sought after yellow metal.

However, in the sub-sector, hostile  mine grabbing of mining claims belonging to women remains rampant.

Many more  women have been  denied access to the lucrative sector. For those  who are fortunate to survive, widespread  victimisation  awaits them  as  politically connected people grab mining claims from women and leave them with nothing to eke out a living.

The women miners  are unable  to fight for themselves.

Neither the police  nor the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development are able to protect them.

Among the casualties is Tsitsi Matumba. In 2015, the widow’s name was struck from the Ministry of Mines list, and she lost her mine.

In an interview with Business Times in Zvishavane , she  stated that she was looking for help to  recover her  gold mining claim she lost to politically connected mine grabbers in 2015.

Mutamba was first informed that her name  had been removed from the Ministry of Mines, Benjamin Urombo offices in Masvingo to Gweru  offices.

“In 2014 we encountered double pegging where someone with a prospecting license came to my mine and the matter was resolved by then Minister of Mines Fred Moyo. After that we continued with our work.

“In 2015 we faced a challenge were by we were transferred to Gweru Ministry of Mines from Masvingo Ministry of Mines,

“So there was this other day when I was supposed to pay for my licence like I used to do and send my labour returns, my name was not on the list which were transferred to Gweru offices. I was told to come back some other time since they could not find my name on the list. After I went home I was told that my papers were found at Masvingo offices and we went together to search for my name after I paid the search. My name was on a list which was on the computer but not on paper and they told me  to go back to Gweru because they had found my name.

“Unfortunately at Gweru offices they told me that my name was still not on the list despite giving them documents that I got from Masvingo to prove that I was a registered miner,” Matumba told Business Times.

She further disclosed that while she was working to find a solution, someone approached her and claimed to have purchased her mine, even though she had pegged it on March 28, 2012, and she had all the paperwork to show it.

Mutumba  said:”What hurts the most is my farm, which measures  6 hectares that was given to me as A1 which has a grazing land of 14 hectares where I farm in order to support my family.”

Matumba claimed that despite her repeated trips to the Ministry of Mines and the courts to defend her mining claim, she was unable to reclaim her mine.

She said that because she lacked the same connections to political heavyweights as her opponent, her case would be challenging to win. She was subsequently ordered to restart operations, but her opponent drove her out of the mine once more.

“The then minister was booked by the miners federation to solve the matter. I was supposed to go to Mine Entra in Bulawayo and I had my ore at the mine so when I went there to collect it after I was helped by Nomalanga Dube the then regional representative, I was chased away by people with machetes.

“When I went to Bulawayo Mining Entra I got helped and they told me to continue working but it was difficult since I was chased by people with machetes again,

“I then asked for security from the CID minerals department. But, they told me to negotiate with the CID guys. Unfortunately some of them were working together with the guys who grabbed my mine.

“When I went to court we were told to follow the instructions that we were given.  We were told to stop operations but the one with a prospecting licence continued operations whilst I was told to stop but I have the certificates.

“When I went back to report that he was still mining they told me that if you do not have someone from the top to represent you there is nothing that they can do since the mine grabber has close relations with the political bigwigs,” she said.

She claimed that the deputy director and the provincial mining director (PMD) at the time got into heated arguments.

The deputy director directed me to cease activities at the mine notwithstanding the PMD’s request for me to restart operations.

All efforts to get a comment from the PMD and the deputy were futile.

However, Business Times reached out to the then regional representative Nomalanga Dube.

She said they did everything they could but it was to no avail as Matumba could not get her mine back.

“By then I was the regional representative and we tried to help. We wrote a letter to the Ministry of Mines and we were told to send other documents to ministry in Harare and we thought we were going to get help but we could not.

“When we thought the issue was resolved and Tsitsi said let me resume my operations she went back and was chased away again. These people are very connected and it was difficult for her to work at her mine,” Dube said.

Matumba is not the only woman in this circumstance; hostile mine grabs are a problem for many women working in the mining industry nationwide.