BULAWAYO – A Chinese company duped the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) after entering a partnership to close open pits left by artisanal miners in Umzingwane River, only to be found carrying out riverbed mining.

EMA terminated the partnership with the company called Friends of the Environment, but it is not clear if anyone was prosecuted.

The revelation was made last week by Tafadzwa Muguti, the secretary for presidential affairs and devolution in the president’s office who visited the catchment areas of major dams in Matabeleland South to witness the environmental catastrophe caused by illegal mining.

The activities of the company damaged a bridge at the confluence of Umzingwane and Inyankuni rivers and officials say contributed to poor inflows into major dams supplying Bulawayo with water.

Muguti said: “We had a Chinese company here, Friends of the Environment, who partnered with EMA and the province later found out that by day they were closing the pits in the name of Friends of the Environment and by night they were mining.

“They destroyed a whole bridge while looking for gold.”

Rampant illegal mining is being blamed for low levels of water at dams supplying the City of Bulawayo, even after decent rains recently.

“There was a caninet directive which ordered all provinces to intensify the anti-alluvial mining campaign,” said Muguti.

“Now this is almost a 150-meter bridge which was destroyed completely in the name of mining. This is Umzingwane River, it supplies water to Bulawayo and the collapse of this bridge is causing water challenges as the water has stopped flowing.”

Zimbabwe has seen an influx of investment in mining from Chinese companies, but Muguti admits that “not everyone is coming for the benefit of Zimbabwe.”

Bulawayo mayor David Coltart has been sounding the alarm over illegal riverbed mining which he says is restricting water flows to dams supplying the city with water.

Speaking at a residents meeting in Nkulumane two weeks ago, Coltart said: “I rode my bicycle 40km towards Umzingwane Dam last Saturday to assess the situation myself. I was shocked – not a single stream was flowing after all that rain. The reason? Illegal gold panners!”