Zimbabwe: Senate orders Ministry of Mines to halt illegal mining at Christmas Pass and Marlborough

For years, Zimbabwe has faced the expansion of informal artisanal mining, known as "makorokoza", which escapes state control and threatens the environment and public safety. This informal sector employs hundreds of thousands of people in a country rich in gold, chrome, and diamonds, regularly causing tunnel collapses, water pollution, and encroachment on residential areas. It is against this backdrop that Senate Deputy President Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Michael R. Nyambuya ordered the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to immediately halt illegal mining activities in Christmas Pass, Mutare (Manicaland province), and Marlborough, a suburb of Harare, citing "concerns related to public safety and environmental degradation", according to New Zimbabwe/AllAfrica. For residents of these localities, the measure could reduce nuisances (noise, dust, risk of collapse), but it also deprives informal miners of income, in a country where formal unemployment remains very high. This type of parliamentary injunction, recurrent in Zimbabwe, has historically faced enforcement challenges: the Ministry of Mines has limited monitoring resources in the face of the economic pressure pushing thousands of Zimbabweans towards artisanal mining, often linked to local networks that are difficult to dismantle.