10 000 Gold miners declare deadly war…resist eviction from mine…PICTURES

Spirited artisanal miners from Chegutu registered under a cooperative name, Danangwe District Youth in Mining (DDYM) have refused to settle for less after being ordered to relocate from a rich gold claim to another in the same town or just get evicted for good.

The miners numbering about 10 000 recently overpowered a handful of cops that had come to evict them at Gadzema mine in Chegutu through an eviction order by Breckridge company.

Mr Stewart Luckford addressed the multitudes of artisanal miners who vowed to do anything that will make them save their only source of livelihood.

“We are working here in compliance with government directive that clearly stipulates that all claims lying idle should be given to organised capable miners mostly youths,” he said.

Mr Luckford said Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa had personally assured us youths during the recent indaba that that we should benefit from claims being kept for speculative purposes.

“Our mine will be the yardstick for all youths in this country that DDYM we were the first to take idle claims. Fortunately for us, we had already taken over an idle claim so we are here to stay,” he said.

Mr Tendai Muruviwa said they even if offered $5.2 million for compensation on the investment on the mine they were still sticking to their guns.

“The company wants to be bullish they have blocks all over the country but only persisting that they want this place. There is high unemployment in the country and they also want to add that figure by evicting thousands here,” he said.

zwnews