By Onny Gangata
RUSHINGA constituency house of assembly representative Tendai Nyabani has urged the media to execute its role as a watch dog in order to expose corrupt elements in the mining sector.
He made the call during a belated World Press Freedom day commemorations hosted by MISA Zimbabwe in Gweru on Friday.
Responding to questions on why parliament was not taking action over the rampant environmental degradation caused by mining activities, Nyabani said the media has a role to play in exposing the rot in the sector.
“We have put in place laws that govern mining activities in the country, laws that protect the environment, they are there,” he said.
“But when you ask the police and Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and they say everything is fine when you see it’s not, it your role as the media to probe and find out what is going on. The investigate journalists must expose malpractices in the industry.”
He added: “Parliament makes the laws, we cannot implement the laws when we have agencies on the ground responsible for that. In Mazowe there is river bed cultivation it’s damaging Mazowe river, in Kwekwe we heard that a classroom collapsed due to mining. Where is the police, where is EMA?”
Concerns have been raised over the mining activities being done by Chinese companies at the Boterekwa escarpment in Shurugwi with fears that if not controlled, this may pose a risk to both humans and livestock in the surrounding areas.
However, EMA Midlands spokesperson Oswald Ndlovu said there is need to understand how EMA operates when dealing with mining companies.
“People need to understand how we deal with mining companies, it may appear to the general public as if we are not doing our part. There is what we call progressive rehabilitation where miners are supposed to rehabilitate damaged areas of the environment where they would have managed, however, we can’t expect them to do that at an area where they are still mining a resource,” said Ndlovu.
