Bulawayo, (New Ziana) – The Bulawayo city council has called on government to urgently clamp down on rampant illegal gold mining in Umzingwane, a water catchment area for the city, warning that the activities are affecting water supplies.
City mayor David Coltart raised the alarm after inspecting the Umzingwane River and its tributaries during a visit where he witnessed widespread illegal mining despite a government ban on alluvial mining in river.
“The bad news is that I witnessed illegal gold mining in virtually every tributary. Nearly every tributary of the Umzingwane has evidence of mining taking place, and there are large camps of illegal miners operating with impunity,” Coltart said.
He said while the Umzingwane river itself was flowing strongly after recent heavy rains, most of its tributaries were either stagnant or not flowing at all, with pools of exceptionally muddy water indicating severe upstream erosion.
Coltart said the situation was particularly worrying given that this water catchment area for the city has received significant rainfall this season.
“The catchment has had at least 600 millimetres of rain so far this season, with over 100 millimetres falling last week alone, and yet the bulk of the tributaries were not flowing,” he said.
“Despite all this rain, Umzingwane Dam as of January 21 is only 30,1 percent full.”
He contrasted this with Mtshabezi Dam, which is at 100 percent capacity despite having a catchment area close to that of Umzingwane.
“The difference is simple. Mtshabezi’s catchment has hardly any gold mining, while Umzingwane’s catchment has been utterly devastated by illegal mining,” he added.
Coltart said he did not encounter a single patrol from responsible authorities during his inspection, despite the scale of illegal activity.
“Towards the end of 2024, Government banned alluvial mining in river courses, yet what I saw…was numerous miners hard at work,” he explained.
“These miners are continuing their illegal activities with no enforcement at all.”
Coltart warned that the continued destruction of the Umzingwane water catchment posed an existential threat to Bulawayo, a city that has endured chronic water shortages for decades.
“The consequences for our city are devastating. Government needs to bring this existential threat to an end immediately, otherwise Bulawayo’s water crisis will continue and indeed worsen,” he said.
He said while good rains this season had provided some relief, the situation would be catastrophic in a drought year.
“In a dry year there will be almost no inflow. This illegal mining should be brought to an end immediately if city is to have any water security at all,” he said.
New Ziana
