On
a
hot
summer
morning,
I
sat
for
a
bit
watching
a
black-headed
heron
sifting
through
the
golden
stubble
of
a
newly
harvested
crop.
It
was
a
beautiful
day:
a
deep
blue
sky,
very
little
wind,
and
trees
alive
with
birds.
I
lingered
a
while,
letting
the
peace
and
beauty
soak
in,
gathering
my
wits
to
face
the
whispers
of
what
I
suspected
lay
ahead.
Zimbabwe
is
being
chipped
away,
one
shovel
at
a
time,
one
excavator
scoop
at
a
time,
one
mine
truck
at
a
time.
It’s
the
second
land
invasion,
people
say
–
but
is
that
really
what’s
going
on,
or
is
it
really
the
orgy
of
self-enrichment,
corruption,
and
plundering
by
people
in
positions
of
power
and
authority?
On
a
14km
stretch
of
road
just
beyond
Darwendale
village,
most
signs
of
normal
life
are
gone.
No
sign
of
farms,
crops,
villages
or
homes.
This
14km
stretch
of
road
leading
to
the
boundary
with
National
Parks’
Darwendale
Dam
is
an
ugly,
scarred
wasteland.
Huge
mine
dump
trucks
loaded
with
soil
and
rocks
roar
across
the
plains
leavings
clouds
of
red
dust
in
their
wake.
They
don’t
slow
down
as
they
reach
the
tar
road
–
so
watch
out,
because
these
are
the
untouchables.
The
Chinese
are
mining
here
and
their
chrome
pits,
trenches,
and
mounds
of
black
soil,
red
soil
and
rocks
stretch
as
far
as
the
eye
can
see
on
both
sides
of
the
road.
The
devastation
is
everywhere
Across
the
plains,
up
the
hillsides,
and
even
underneath
the
main
electricity
pylons
feeding
the
national
grid,
the
devastation
is
everywhere.
An
excavator
is
at
work
up
a
steep
hill,
swinging
its
long
arm
again
and
again
as
it
scrapes
up
our
precious
earth
and
dumps
it
into
waiting
trucks,
suffocating
dust
hanging
in
our
beautiful
blue
sky.
The
sight
of
it
makes
you
heartsore,
so
heartsore.
A
couple
of
brave
souls
are
trying
to
graze
their
cattle
among
the
abandoned
mounds
of
rocks
and
between
the
trenches,
but
it’s
a
treacherous
place.
People
say
that
when
a
cow
or
calf
falls
into
one
of
the
pits
or
trenches,
they
get
stuck
or
break
their
legs
and
there
is
no
way
to
get
them
out.
A
woman
tells
me
that
when
the
Chinese
do
their
blasting
at
night,
the
explosions
shake
their
windows
and
crack
the
walls
of
their
houses
2km
away.
“It’s
awful,
so
awful,”
she
says,
“everything
has
been
completely
destroyed.
These
people
don’t
care.
No
one
can
stop
them.”
You
can
see
the
march
of
the
Chinese
and
their
yellow
excavators
along
this
14km
stretch
of
road
by
the
trail
of
destruction
they
leave
behind.
There
is
no
sign
anywhere
of
any
attempt
at
reclamation
of
the
land. They
dig
their
holes,
pits
and
trenches,
extract
our
minerals,
and
then
leave,
doing
nothing
to
fill
holes,
flatten
mounds
or
re-establish
vegetation.
Take
this
picture
and
replicate
it
in
Hwange,
Mutoko,
Shamva,
Makoni,
Haruni,
Magunje,
Chihota,
Mazowe,
Chiadzwa,
Uzumba
and
so
many
other
places.
Take
it
into
mountains
and
escarpments
such
as
at
Boterekwa
in
Shurugwi,
the
Muvaradonha
Wilderness
in
Muzarabani,
and
now
even
in
Christmas
Pass.
Nowhere
is
safe
from
the
mining
scourge
now.
Who’s
to
blame?
It’s
easy
to
blame
the
Chinese
miners,
who
have
a
bad
human
rights
track
record
in
Zimbabwe
–
but
the
real
question
is:
how
are
they
getting
away
with
it,
why
are
they
untouchable,
who
is
protecting
them?
Former
energy
minister
Fortune
Chasi
this
week
spilled
the
beans.
“Local
officials
sign
the
licences,
local
elites
the
‘facilitation
fees’,
local
silence
allows
rivers
to
turn
into
sludge,”
he
said.
“Every
destroyed
riverbed
tells
a
local
story,
a
signature,
a
bribe,
a
blind
eye
…
This
isn’t
a
‘Chinese
problem.’
It
is
a
governance
problem
… The
Chinese
did
not
destroy
our
mountains
and
rivers.
Our
signatures
did.”
Stark
honesty
from
an
ex-minister,
but
it’s
a
shame
he
didn’t
say
it
when
he
was
still
in
office.
Long-term
loss
But
it’s
not
just
the
pits,
mounds
and
trenches
in
Darwendale,
or
the
sludge
in
rivers;
it’s
the
cyanide
and
mercury
poisoning
our
rivers
and
devastating
aquatic,
bird
and
wild
life;
the
long-term
soil
contamination,
the
loss
of
biodiversity
and
habitat,
and
the
widespread
erosion,
siltation
and
pollution.
Everywhere
communities
are
losing
their
ancestral
homelands
and
being
silenced
with
short-term,
cheap
‘compensation’
such
as
a
fence
or
a
pump
or
a
few
dirty
dollars.
Long
after
the
Chinese
miners
have
left
we
will
all
feel
the
effects
of
this
out-of-control
mining.
While
people
say
nothing,
do
nothing,
and
look
the
other
way
our
beautiful
country
is
being
torn
apart,
ravaged,
looted
and
destroyed
by
the
untouchables,
and
by
those
in
power
in
Zimbabwe
who
give
them
permission
to
do
so.
Please
use
your
voice
to
share
this
news
and
help
us
to
stop
this
before
it’s
too
late.
©
Cathy
Buckle