Police in Matabeleland South have warned they would soon clamp down on illegal panners in the province whom they said were flooding Beitbridge for diamonds and had invaded Sun Yet Sen in Matobo seeking gold.
Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe confirmed the diamond and gold rush in the province and said this was a result of rumours spread by “opportunist panners”.
He said the “rush” did not mean there was a lot of gold and diamonds in those areas.
He said police in collaboration with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Environmental Management Agency would not allow illegal mining activities in the province.
“This province has a lot of alluvial gold and we have seen gold panners causing havoc in the region,” he said. “Once someone bumps onto some gold, all the gold panners immediately throng that area and what they leave is a lot of destruction to the land.
Alluvial gold mining does not have economic advantage because if you pick some gold here it does not mean there is a gold belt which will last long.”
“As for Sun Yet Sen and Beitbridge, we have since deployed police officers to deal with the panners,” said Dzirutwe. “As a result, we have made quite a number of arrests of the panners.
We arrest panners almost every day. We will not hesitate to arrest those who invade our province to start random digging of minerals here, destroying our land under the guise of looking for gold.”
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Dzirutwe could not be drawn into revealing the number of panners arrested since the activities started, saying details were yet to be provided.
