A University of Zimbabwe sociologist says women living near diamond and gold mining areas were reportedly being used as “conduits” for stealing minerals and sex objects for security guards and panners.
REPORT BY VENERANDA LANGA SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER
The sociologist, Sunungurai Chingarande, made the disclosure in Harare on Monday while presenting findings of her study on the gender dimension to mineral-related corruption.
“Most women in the mining sector are used to provide sexual services to men employed there, or to provide food, drinks and flea markets to surrounding communities,” Chingarande said.
“Women interviewed during the study revealed that security guards solicited for sexual favours from them and in return they were let into diamond or gold fields to look for the minerals.”
According to the study, the same women were also used as smuggling syndicates.
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Chingarande bemoaned the small female representation in formal mining.
“At policy level, the Mines and Minerals Act is gender neutral. In 2012, women who were registered as miners were only 12%. Only 15% of women were involved in small-scale mining. Fifty-thousand women were involved in informal gold panning, and only 20% mining concessions were offered to women in the gold sector,” she said.
Applications by women to enter into the diamond mining sector, Chingarande said, had been submitted to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, but none had been granted to date.
“Precarious mining methods and toxic chemicals like mercury, sulphuric and nitric acids pose a lot of danger to women. For example, mercury causes abortions and informal mining tends to be manual and labour intensive. There are also myths that when women go underground, minerals will disappear,” she said.