EFFORTS by government to clear deadly landmines in the country planted during the country’s war of liberation have been severely affected by lack of funding, with 95% of affected areas now demined, a Cabinet minister has said.
Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri revealed this in Parliament recently while responding to questions from legislators on government’s position on demining and clearing of landmines.
“I want to inform this House that 95% of the areas have been demined, meaning that we are only left with a small portion,” she said.
“We were thinking that we would have finished demining by 2025, but we do not have enough funding. We had been promised money, unfortunately, many countries are being affected economically.”
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the government was engaging companies operating in affected communities to secure funding.
“So, we are engaging them so that they keep funding us. Those companies working in the affected communities, I think, should help the injured.
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“We have cordial relations with those companies. The injured are provided with money whenever they are in need of money,” she said.
Muchinguri-Kashiri revealed that government was compiling data in all the affected areas to track those who have been injured by landmines.
“The data is on how many people have been injured and what their needs are so that we refer to other ministries that have those programmes because we work together as three ministries,” she said.
Most landmines were laid in Zimbabwe in the 1970s by the colonial white minority government.
Approximately 18,3km² of land remains contaminated with risk, classified as “medium” by the Mine Action Review in Zimbabwe, which is one of the few countries actively working to meet the 2025 clearance deadline under the Ottawa Convention.