The panicked screams, incessant shouting and pleas for help could be heard from a distance as Irene Chikasha walked into the schoolyard in the town of Kwekwe on the morning of March 16. Instinctively, the teacher at the Globe and Phoenix school sprinted in the direction of the commotion.
When she entered the classroom, she was shocked. Seventeen children, aged between 10 and 11, were stuck in the mouth of a sinkhole and desperately trying to get out. “It was as if the floor had swallowed the children and the desks and chairs were inside,” Chikasha tells the FM.
In no time, teachers, passers-by, members of the civil protection unit in the area and others came to lend a hand in the crisis. Luckily, there were no fatalities.
In the weeks leading up to the incident, management of the school — named for the mine that used to own the land on which it was built — had complained bitterly about illegal mining activities in the area. Each day, the teachers watched helplessly as illegal miners invaded the schoolyard, digging for gold. On some days, they would hear explosions from tunnels below.
Despite the teachers’ pleas, no action was taken. Until March 16 — the day Chikasha’s “worst fears came true”.
Fearing the rest of the school would collapse, authorities shut down the institution. But the incident triggered fears that public infrastructure and roads in Kwekwe would be at risk too. The small town in Zimbabwe’s midlands — about 200km southwest of Harare — is home to significant gold resources. It’s become a go-to place for illegal miners, who arrive in the dry season, when the ground is at less risk of caving in.
Illegal mining has mushroomed in Zimbabwe, with makorokoza (illegal miners) flocking to the country’s gold mining towns — and digging up almost everywhere for the precious metal. That the illicit industry is thriving is no surprise, given the economic crisis in the country: hyperinflation, a rapidly devaluing local currency, rising poverty and only 10% of the population in formal employment. Then throw in the substantial gold reserves.
As a result, more and more Zimbabweans are being drawn into the illegal trade by the promise of instant wealth. In 2020, the independent nonprofit and nongovernmental organisation International Crisis Group estimated that as many as 1.5-million of Zimbabwe’s roughly 16-million people are in some way involved in illegal gold mining.
Such is the situation that if makorokoza even suspect schools, hospitals and public places are on gold reserves, they become targets.
At its peak, the Globe and Phoenix mine was the second-largest gold producer in the country, after the Cam and Motor mine in Kadoma, about 40km north. Now, with the decommissioned mine’s operations closed, the makorokoza have taken it over, blasting new shafts and tunnels to access gold deposits that had previously been left untouched for fear of weakening the mine structurally.
In the past year, the makorokoza have sunk shafts and dug tunnels at Paper House, which was the residence of colonialist Cecil John Rhodes when he was in the town. Even a “royal palace”, where Queen Elizabeth II stayed when she visited what was then Southern Rhodesia, has been targeted.
“I am afraid the ground will just give in one day,” resident Tendai Chaka tells the FM. “My area also sits on a gold belt and there is always a lot of blasting not too far from here. The makorokoza are always digging up everywhere and we don’t know how bad the situation is underground.”
In her friend’s neighbourhood, a house slid into a sink hole caused by mining. Now she lives in constant fear of being swallowed up by the ground herself.
It was as if the floor had swallowed the children and all the desks and the chairs were inside
— Irene Chikasa
Authorities are taking the situation seriously, judging by their interventions after the school accident. Shortly after the collapse, government officials announced they would conduct a geospatial survey in the affected area and possibly other parts of the town.
“Fears are that the prevailing situation may be a pointer to a greater disaster and that people might be in great danger. There is a need for mining engineers to look at the whole system … in Kwekwe,” local government & public works minister July Moyo said after the incident.
So far, the findings — if there are any yet — have not been made public.
But it’s not just underground activities that are plaguing residents. Jethro Nyarota, chair of the Camelot group of schools in the town, woke up one morning to find his institution overrun by illegal miners.
“We had a case of illegal mining at Camelot school and reported the incident to the district development co-ordinator. We became very concerned because of what happened at Globe and Phoenix school,” says Nyarota, a lawyer by profession.
“We then had an all-stakeholder conference, with illegal miners, the ministries of education and mining, the environmental management agency, police and others. It was resolved by the ministry of mines that mining activities must stop at the school.”
Though the intervention of the police has helped, “there are still instances where [makorokoza] come and carry out illegal mining”, leading to running battles with school security, says Nyarota. The pupils are unnerved, he adds, and the school authorities are deeply concerned about their safety.
Part of the problem in Kwekwe is that the city itself issues special grants — exclusive mining rights — to prospecting mining companies and individuals. It’s within its rights to do this; the system, which is a duplicate of national government function, previously helped cut through red tape. But everything still has to be by the book: miners need a permit and an environmental impact assessment before mining can go ahead.
When Camelot complained about the illegal mining, it emerged that Kwekwe had issued just three companies with such mining rights. “It was resolved that the city of Kwekwe must not give special grants that allow people to mine in the school,” says Nyarota.
But the bigger problem is the mushrooming illicit sector. As Nyarota puts it, “every right-thinking resident is concerned. Quite a few houses have collapsed and fallen into shafts. We fear that half of the city may collapse. We need controlled mining.”
My family can’t even go out of the yard in a car, because they have dug right by the gate
— Rosemary Adolfo
That need for control couldn’t be more apparent. Illegal miners have even dug right in front of people’s homes to exploit surface deposits; and where they feel encouraged by their findings, they often begin tunnelling, using explosives.
In a letter to the council last November — the basis for a subsequent council report — town resident Rosemary Adolfo tells of how the miners are were detonating explosives in the residential area and endangering lives.
She adds, too, that the illegal digging is taking a toll on municipal infrastructure, affecting roads, water and sewerage.
Her own home, she adds, has been turned into an island. “My family can’t even go out of the yard in a car, because they have dug right by the gate,” she writes. “At this rate, we may not even be able to walk out of the yard.
“We have done all we can to have the problem addressed, but nothing is materialising. We have approached many officers to deal with the matter, who have told us that their hands are tied.” (It’s alleged that some politically connected elites control the underground syndicates.)
Then there’s the violent conflict between rival gangs, such as the machete-wielding Mashurugwi from Shurugwi, a town about 100km south of Kwekwe, and an outfit called Al Shabab. These are rumoured to be linked to political elites.
Three years ago, the violence spun out of control, and the police were forced to ban machetes and other weapons in Kwekwe. But several meetings by the country’s security chiefs to stop the violence haven’t yielded much.
Kwekwe town clerk Lucia Mkandhla will not be drawn to comment on the problem of illegal mining in the town and the structural problems they pose to the city. “I’m not privy to those issues,” she tells the FM.
The town’s director of works, John Mhike, for his part, refuses to comment on the structural issues. “I am not cleared to comment on that or any other issues pertaining to the city. I need clearance from the town clerk,” he says.
Members of the parliamentary portfolio committee on mines and mining development are on record as saying the ground beneath town is “at risk of sinking”. But still, the central government hasn’t done anything about the illegal miners, who continue to dig in and around the town.
Said Judith Tobaiwa, then the MP for Kwekwe Central: “My worry is we have been hearing all these contributions from government departments; what have they done to resolve these issues? Now there are mining activities along the Harare Road and also along Robert Mugabe Road.”
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