By Gracious Masendu

A total of 20 young women between 18 and 35 years from the 15 wards of Wedza district actively participated in a Mashonaland East provincial interface meeting with Parliament in Harare. This platform, involving the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mining and young women drawn from the 9 districts of Mashonaland East, was jointly organised by the Wedza Residents Development Initiative Trust (WERDIT) and Rural Young Women Support Trust.

The meeting sought to provide women with an opportunity to air their grievances in the context of mining in the province and also suggest possible solutions to ameliorate the socio-economic and political issues that bar them from participating freely in sector.

It also sought to lobby Parliament to utilise its oversight role to push for the legislation that empowers women to participate in and benefit from the mining sector, contrary to the status quo where they are playing a second fiddle to their male counterparts.

Tsitsi Mapuranga from Njenje village in Wedza district revealed that gold mining in her area has become a menace rather than an empowerment tool.

“Our rivers Nyamatonhora, Nyamidzi and Mazhakatitse are being contaminated daily due to mercury, a chemical used to cleanse gold. As a result, we are forced to walk about six kilometres further to do our laundry, which is very inconvenient because of artisanal miners. As a community we do not get any money from the proceeds of gold mining in our area,” said Mapuranga.

Environmental rights activist, Patience Manyere from Nyamuzuwe, Mutoko said Corporate Social Responsibility by the miners in the district is lacking resulting in communities losing out instead of benefiting from the minerals in their districts.

Manyere highlighted that miners are obtaining granite in abundance, but without leaving anything for the community. In this regard, she talked about maternal health and service delivery interventions by miners as a way of ploughing back into the community. This would go a long way in helping the young women and the generality of the community.

“Young women are left out in making key decisions in mining, for instance, obtaining prospectuses to mine in the given areas. As young women we should be able to get shares in mining companies as local women’s groups and clubs, as a way of empowering ourselves against a plethora of vulnerabilities,” Manyere said.

Other challenges raised include the physical and sexual abuse of young women in mining areas by miners taking advantage of cash obtained from mining. Small and medium entrepreneurs who sell their products to miners, including clothes and food, lamented that they are generally subjected to violence upon requesting for payments.

“Cases of sexual abuse by artisanal miners, known as ‘makorokoza,’ against girls below the age of 18, taking advantage of cash from the mining proceeds, have also been raised, which is now prevalent in the mining areas.

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines, Honourable Joseph Mpasi, acknowledged all the issues raised by the young women and pledged to raise them with the parliament for further debate and recommendations.

“There is a need to push the relevant government departments and ministries to ensure that young women are not left behind in these developments,” said Honourable Mpasi.