A District Assessment team comprising representatives from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), the District Development Coordinator’s (DDC) office, the Joint Operations Command (JOC), Forestry Commission, and ZINWA visited parts of the Mazowe River in Wards 6 and 7 on October 22, 2024. The findings on the ground supported the Government’s policy to ban alluvial gold mining.
The companies, including some owned by foreign nationals, have been ordered to cease operations, and heavy machinery such as motorized excavators and washing plants has been removed from the riverbed.
In Ward 7, two Chinese companies, Jiayun Investment and Ying Can Pvt Ltd, were fined and ordered to vacate the site. They have since complied, removing their heavy machinery. Mining activities in this area affected approximately 4 hectares of the Mazowe River.
Mugodhi Investment, one of the four companies operating in the riverbed, was also fined and ordered by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to leave the site. In total, 6 hectares were affected.
The government, through the Ministry of Environment, Climate, and Wildlife, along with engineers from RIDA, ZINWA, and the Zvataida Rural District Council, is now developing a plan to rehabilitate the Mazowe River.
