ENVIRONMENTAL degradation in Uzumba, Maramba and Pfungwe (UMP) district has become a haven of massive land ruin.
Own Correspondent
It emerged during a recent tour organised by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) last week that the area, which also bore the brunt of extremely high temperatures, has increasingly become arid, making attempts to carry out agricultural activities a futile exercise.
Along the 30km stretch from Chitsungo shopping centre into Pfungwe, a few women could be seen walking along the road balancing either buckets of water or maize meal on their heads.
At Mazowe River, one could see a number of new mining machines including, earth movers, generators and water pumps used in the extraction of alluvial gold along the river. The mining activities have had a negative impact on the environment.
The river was in a sorry state due to the mining activities. It was blocked at each side, with heaps of soil occupying the middle section. A small, man–made river channel was constructed on the far end of the main river channel to direct water to the other end.
It is massive siltation that has choked the water body. At the river bank is a large tract of land that has been dug up, leaving deep pits.
One of the miners in the area, an American national, Garry Cornelius whose Light Weight Mining Company is behind this environmental degradation said he was aware of the massive siltation and his mining company was on a mission of de-siltation of the river.
“Mining has its negative and positive effects to the environment and I am aware of the siltation, but I can assure you that we are set for de-siltation of the riverbed where we are going to remove all the soil on the riverbed and rejuvenate the channel,” he said.
He said his company will be the first to exercise de-siltation in the country.
A few metres from the mine, women and children were busy