FINALLY, government has thrown the gauntlet down.
It has grown tired of mining companies that are failing to adhere to the laws of the land.
This week, Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando told this publication that all mining firms which fail the responsible audit test will be suspended or have their licences revoked.
Government last year set up an audit team which unearthed irregularities within some mining entities.
“The audit revealed that some entities, for instance, submit an environmental impact assessment (EIA) certificate and when they mine, they don’t mine, per the submitted EIA,” Chitando told NewsDay, adding that many mining entities were violating the Finance Act insofar as VAT registration and other legalities concerned.
“It revealed that there are some entities which are not compliant with the provisions of the Finance Act in terms of registering for VAT and so forth,” he said.
“If entities are not fully compliant with the provisions of the law and fail the responsible audit test, those entities’ operations will be suspended.”
Some mining firms were in the habit of altering information they submitted to the government, getting away with it.
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Even the Environmental Management Agency has been complaining about the mining malpractices that are going on around the country, describing what government is doing as “the best move” for sustainable mining practices.
We need responsible miners in our country.
Complaints have been registered with authorities with regards how some miners, especially our so-called “all-weather friends”, are destroying everything they come across as they mine for gold, granite and other minerals.
Today, the Boterekwa Escarpment in Shurugwi in the Midlands province has been vandalised.
Once a marvel, today sections of the escarpment are hugely scarred as the miners there “desecrate” the once beautiful mountainous range.
In such instances, it, therefore, follows that there is need to establish environmental oversight groups with a singular mandate of protecting the environment in mining communities, according to a paper published by DLA Piper Africa.
Effective community participation in environmental decision-making is necessary for contemporary natural resources management practice, and is the cornerstone of responsible and democratic environmental governance and a fundamental prerequisite to achieving sustainable development.
Furthermore, there is vast opportunity to reclaim and rehabilitate abandoned mining pits by both large and small-scale miners in order to curb further degradation of the landscape and finally revert these lands to further productive use.
The researchers believe there is need to create environmental awareness campaigns and/or education in various mining communities as a way of ensuring sound and sustainable use of the environment in the face of ongoing mining activities in the country.
This will create the necessary balance between development/economic growth and mandatory environmental exigencies for community livelihoods.
Effective community participation will protect project interests, promote democracy, increase accountability of projects, enhance project quality, enhance effectiveness of the EIA process, reduce conflicts associated with mining projects between mining companies and the affected communities, and help in effective environmental decision making and thereby ensures the sustainability of mining activities, the researchers added.
So what it tells us is that while the government is fighting miners to follow the laws of the land in their respective communities, the community should be pushing for inclusion in the miners’ activities.
The communities are the overseers of projects being undertaken and should engage the miners and be carried on board those projects.
Government should not remove its foot from the pedal in its drive to make sure mining firms adhere to provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act, Environmental Management Act and Finance Act insofar as VAT registration is concerned.
Government should work with communities where mining is taking place and walk with them in the path to restore order.
There should be no sacred cows in this fight.
Even those name-dropping President Emmerson Mnangagwa should be held accountable.
