The Environmental Management Agency does not have enough power to curb rampant water pollution and land degradation
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Deserted: Community leader Zwelihle Mpofu points out an old homestead in Methodist Village, abandoned after sand poachers destroyed the land behind it.
In the capital Harare, the city council was fined $10,000 in 2016 for polluting river systems, and was ordered to clear illegal waste dumps.Analysis of data on court cases involving water pollution and land degradation across the country from 2012 to 2024 shows that complainants include the EMA, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission , Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association , Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights , residents’ associations and individual citizens.
On 9 October 2019, the high court ordered Imani Mine in Matabeleland South to immediately cease operations following a ZELA court application challenging the legality of the mine’s operations on the basis that the company had not completed an environmental impact assessment. The maximum fines the agency can impose are between level 8 and 14 , resulting in a prison sentence of one year, or both a fine and the prison sentence, mainly for water pollution offences. Sidange could not be drawn into disclosing how much has so far been handed down in fines, citing changes and fluctuations in the Zimbabwean currency.
Illegal gold miners have also left a trail of destruction on the land — open pits, some very deep, all over the district and now pose a serious threat to both human beings and livestock. The illegal artisanal miners even dig on river and stream banks such as Nyoni stream, which feeds into Lower Ncema Dam, one of Bulawayo’s water sources.
Umguza River, which is almost a dead river, has suffered the discharge of raw sewage by the Bulawayo city council over the years, resulting in hyacinth growing on its bed. “We have EMA who are responsible for the upkeep of the environment, which includes land,” said Mpofu. “If we are to look at what is happening here, one would realise that there is no more land to talk about. Once water fills up this gulley, children risk drowning as they attempt to swim.”
“One or two local authorities have been able to designate such spaces for sand mining, meaning that in all the other spaces it is just rampant,” she lamented. She urged sand extractors to always consider rehabilitating the land to minimise degradation. He added: “Everyone knows all this, EMA knows it and even the government itself knows it, but the problem continues. It means it is difficult to stop it.”
Failed economy: Director of the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights, Khumbulani Maphosa, says that without opportunities, young people have 'no option' but to turn to gold panning. Photo: LinkedinMpofu said while the EMA does environmental awareness campaigns, they are useless because of high unemployment levels. “As we speak right now our children are grounded. If they do not resort to this , they will end up stealing from us.
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