A SIGNIFICANT number of Zimbabwe’s powerful provincial mining executives, including directors, have been placed under probe following reports of sleaze in the US$12 billion industry, the Zimbabwe Independent can report.

It is not clear if the current investigations, disclosed by Pfungwa  Kunaka, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, will end with looters accounting for pillaging public resources.

But reports of unrestricted plunder by top level government officials, working with international syndicates, have always surfaced, the latest being the ‘gold mafia’, which shook Zimbabwe recently.

Some of the reports have been published by the Office of the Auditor-General.

Kunaka’s comments came as the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-SA) piled pressure on authorities to launch their own investigation to get to the bottom of reports alleging that the Midlands Provincial Mining Director (PMD)’s office sat at the heart of the pillage.

“There have been cases under investigation, or that went through the courts,” Kunaka told the Independent.

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“We welcome due professional process. The question to ask is, what should individuals or organisations do when they suspect or witness corruption being perpetrated? We expect such to be reported to relevant authorities.”

In its report released this week, ACT-SA narrowed its critique to the Midlands PMD's office, where the government made top level changes early this year, amid reports of serious corruption.

ACT-SA said plunder of minerals taking place in the Midlands had evolved into a threat to national development.

It said authorities should launch a public enquiry and audit of mining licences issued by the office.

“The office (Midlands PMD) is accused of corruption and maladministration that threatens national development and the attainment of Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030. ACT-SA has from 2018 been receiving several reports that the mines office was captured by some individuals, including some political elites, rich miners and peggers, who dictate how the office operates and how decisions are made,” the report reads.

“In addition, there are reports of the existence of syndicates involving officials at the offices of the mine that snatch the poor and less-connected people’s mines. This corruption continues unabated and most of the time with impunity.”

Former Midlands PMD Tariro Ndlovu, who has since been transferred to the head office, was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission last year on charges of abuse of office following a mining dispute, which he presided over in 2014.

Ndlovu was recently reassigned to Harare.

When contacted for comment by the  Zimbabwe Independent recently, Ndlovu confirmed being re-assigned.

“The only correspondence I have received is my reassignment to head office,” he said. 

“I have a letter to the effect of the message above. I then requested leave since I did not have accommodation arrangements immediately in Harare.

“It was not a forced leave. I requested it myself. I am not aware of any other developments,” Ndlovu said

In 2022, Midlands Police Officer Commanding Kwekwe District Denford Maingire, together with Ndlovu, were accused of causing the displacement of villagers in Zhombe to pave the way for easy access to the gold-rich area.

Investigations by the Centre for Innovation and Technology revealed that villagers in Zhombe were fighting off attempts to evict them from their ancestral lands since 2001, with illegal miners having encroached into their homesteads.