Rebecca Archer-Knepper, the public diplomacy Officer at the US embassy in Harare, told journalists in Kadoma on Friday that her government considered a free media “indispensable”.

“Communities have remained peripheral and therefore vulnerable to elite manipulation because not enough is being done to involve them in setting the news agenda.”

Buhera Rural District Council CEO Emily Chibvongodze refused to comment citing fears of victimisation.

He urged the relocated Buhera communities to re-engage the mine and renegotiate their relocation packages.