Villagers from Domboshaba in Matobo district blocked a syndicate from gold within Matobo Hills World Heritage Site.
The miners, Mazinahue Syndicate, had a prospecting license from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development but villagers would not have it.
This attracted the attention of anti-riot police which descended on and brutalised villagers forcing them to flee into mountains.
A meeting attended by key stakeholders was held at Tshapo Village on Saturday to solve the dispute. During the meeting, villagers urged police to investigate possibilities of corruption.
Matobo District Development Coordinator (DDC) Obey Chaputsira, told villagers that no mining was going to take place in the area. He said:
We promise you that it’s a no to this mining. The council wrote to us and as the DA’s office we also wrote a letter to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. As the DA and leadership of this place we say no to this project.
The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) representative, Curator of Archaeology, Charity Nyathi, emphasised the importance of Matobo as a natural world heritage site.
Nyati also observed that Domboshaba village was a protected landscape within Matobo up to Umzingwane.
The incident comes when the government is underfire for awarding a mining licence to a Chinese company, Yuxian County ZhongXin Coking Company Limited, to drill and explore for coal within the Hwange National Park.
More: CITE