Stephen Chadenga
SHURUGWI — A group of rogue artisanal miners on Tuesday allegedly went on a rampage at Wanderer Mine Site Number 4, a gold claim owned by Chengxi Chengetai Investments, destroying property worth thousands of United States dollars.
According to reports, the company’s security personnel asked the miners to vacate the private premises, but the artisanal miners turned violent, setting five excavators on fire and beating up police officers in uniform who had been called to quell the situation.
Midlands provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko, confirmed the incident but said police would issue more details.
In a brief statement, the company condemned the “violent behaviour”, which it said “undermined the Constitution of Zimbabwe on property rights and privacy”, as well as efforts to support government in attaining the National Development Strategy 2 goals and Vision 2030 of an upper-middle-income economy as “championed under the Second Republic led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.”
Besides empowering locals through employment, Chengxi has embarked on various community empowerment programmes in health, education, infrastructure development and agriculture, among others, as well as empowerment of small-scale miners by providing them with mining equipment worth millions of United States dollars and professional mining skills.
