On Saturday we published a lead story headed Panners invade graveyard, referring to illegal gold miners who have camped in Norton Cemetery to dig for gold.
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In any culture this is abhorrent. These are not abandoned graves as the cemetery is still very much in use.
Said Environmental Management Agency (EMA) spokesperson Steady Kangata: “Whatever they are doing is illegal. The site is not suitable for panning. It’s a cemetery, we should respect the dead and that is according to our culture. We should be guided by values of ubuntu (humanism)EMA confirmed that Zanu PF activist Sheila Mabasa, alias “Yondo Sister”, is leading this illegal operation. To show how brazen they are in this “gold rush”, they have brought in an excavator and it is digging within metres of graves, swallowing up burial space.
Moreover, all this is happening within sight and earshot of Norton Police Station, a mere 500 metres away. However, it’s understandable that middle-level and junior officers are reluctant to act because they would get their fingers burnt by politicians driven by greed and populism.
They know that they have to tread carefully where the ruling party is concerned because the party rules supreme. The police mandate clearly states they should be pro-active rather than reactive because if they concentrate on the latter, irreparable damage would have been done by the time they move in. But their hands are tied by politicians.
In other countries, this would have resulted in a routine police operation to remove the illegal panners, but not here. This shows the need for security sector reform which was stillborn during the era of the inclusive government through Zanu PF’s intense and hostile resistance.
With security sector reform, the police and other State institutions would have been unshackled from politicians so as to carry out their duties without fear or favour.
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The local MP, Christopher Mutsvangwa of Zanu PF, professed ignorance of the desecration of the cemetery, but this has been happening for years. We need leaders who are decisive; who do not sacrifice all on the altar of populism; who will say no when it’s time to say no. But sadly and tragically in this country, they let things drift or fall apart for political expediency.
People should not get away with such outrageous lawlessness simply in the name of the party. Zanu PF’s policy is their prerogative, but this must be implemented within laid-down procedures. The law is above any party agenda, any party manifesto. Zanu PF must rein in its own.
The matter falls in the ambit of Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, who is called upon to take stern and urgent action in the national interest, not sit on the issue.
This country needs a new civilised, lawful beginning, not going back to the era of reckless, spiteful and populist farm invasions, which has resulted in Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of the region, becoming a basket case.
This Wild West-style desecration of the cemetery must stop.
