HARARE – Chinese miner Afrochine Smelting, a unit of stainless steel giant Tsingshan Group, has taken Zimbabwe’s mines minister to court demanding that he publicly absolves it of illegal mining activities taking place at Mavhuradonha Wilderness, a heritage site.
Villagers in Mavhuradonha Wilderness in north-eastern Zimbabwe, in the district of Muzarabani, last week raised alarm over mining activities in the area which they believed were being carried out by Afrochine, which was controversially awarded a licence to mine chrome in the area.
Sacred mountains were being destroyed and holes left uncovered, endangering both humans and wildlife, the locals complained.
In an urgent chamber application at the Harare High Court on Tuesday, Afrochine says whereas it was granted mining rights in the area, it had not commenced mining activities. The company says it was only alerted to ongoing mining by media reports on July 24.
Afrochine says it has established that a company called Earthlink Minerals is illegally mining at its claim, apparently with the blessing of minister Winston Chitando. Earthlink is reportedly owned by one Allen Mashumba.
The Chinese miner says in its application: “Earthlink has done nothing to dissociate itself from Afrochine when allegations of unsustainable and harmful mining arose.
“There has been a backlash as a result of Earthlink’s mining activities on the applicant’s mining location. These have a negative impact on the Chinese community in Zimbabwe as reports claim that they are destroying the environment and yet the actions complained of are not those of the applicant.”
In a certificate of urgency, Afrochine’s lawyer Fanuel Nyamayaro told the High Court: “I discern that the applicant has rights to the property in question as it is the registered owner of the chrome mining location in question in terms of the certificate of registration.
“There appears to be a huge publicity fallout with the media attributing the mining to applicants and to Chinese businessmen in general and yet this is not the case.”
Qedisani Mlambo, on behalf of Afrochine, said in an affidavit that Chitando should direct his officers to tell the court the factual position regarding the ownership of the mining location in dispute.
“This is an urgent chamber application to stop Earthlink from carrying out mining activities at Makura 100 and Makura E and D, Mavhuradonha Wilderness Reserve, Muzarabaani district in Mashonaland Central,” said Mlambo.
Mlambo said Afrochine was granted mining rights for the mining claims but has not commenced mining. He accused Earthlink of grabbing the opportunity to mine the area when Afrochine was still dealing with its environment impact assessment report.
He added: “What is disturbing is that Earthlink purported to be Afrochine Smelting and they gained access to the Wilderness reserve without proper consultation with the local leadership. Afrochine’s actions are unsustainable in that they are alleged to have destroyed the national heritage site in the Mavhuradonha Wilderness Reserve if news reports are anything to go by.
“Further, local people’s livelihoods have been affected heavily by the actions of the respondent in that water bodies have drained and their grazing lands taken away from them.”
Chief Chiweshe Matthew Chitemamuswe has publicly questioned how Afrochine had been allowed by the government to mine chrome ore in the belly of the iconic heritage site covering 600 square kilometers.
Mavhuradonha is home to 1,000-year-old rock paintings, clay pot caches, cultivation sites, sacred caves and ancient fortresses of the Monomatapa Empire. It also has a diverse range of wildlife species.
ZimLive understands that on July 26, local government minister July Moyo called a meeting with the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ), the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Muzarabani and Guruve Rural District Councils (RDCs), the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, National Parks and executives from the ministry of mines where he voiced concerns over the damage being done at Mavhuradonha.
The meeting at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare was also attended by representatives of Earthlink and Afrochine.
“There was a consensus that the mining is not doing any good to wildlife conservation and prudent natural resources management in the Mavhuradonha Wilderness,” a source who attended the meeting said.
“The NMMZ said the area is a national monument and it is a criminal offence to alter material and cultural heritage of the area. Mavuradonha is being considered for global recognition by making it a World Heritage site, hence any harmful activities to the environment can jeopardise this.”
It emerged that there were other miners from Guruve who had crossed over into Muzarabani.
“Some of the miners had papers, but actually breached conditions set. Some had no papers at all but claimed to have authority to operate in the conservancy, while others had authority from Guruve RDC but encroached into Muzarabani,” the official said.
“Only the Guruve RDC supported mining activities in the area, although it was noted they were least affected and the ministry of local government made it clear licencing mining in areas such as Mavhuradonha without its approval was illegal. It was agreed that all mining activities are suspended pending a decision by a cross-ministerial team.”
