Illegal Mining Hits Botswana
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday October 31, 2016 16:37
On Friday, three unemployed men from Kwekwe in Zimbabwe and a local from Nlaqhwane, pleaded guilty to unlawful prospecting of minerals without a permit or licence.
The state alleges that the illegal gold panners Aphinos Nhamo, Elliot Chihwedere, Talent Munzari - who are all from Zimbabwe - and Marko Mbokodo on June 24 at or near Albert’s farm near Matsiloje were found prospecting for unwrought gold without a prospecting permit or licence.
All the accused persons pleaded guilty to the offence.
The state also levelled a charge of being unlawfully found with precious metals against Mbokodo. The particulars of the offence are that on June 24 near or at Matsiloje police station, Mbokodo, unlawfully possessed six unwrought gold pieces weighing 19,9301 grams. Mbokodo pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The accused’s attorney, Tumisang Mokobi, made a successful application for the splitting of the charges since Mbokodo has pleaded not guilty to the second count.
The state prosecutor from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Tawana Kapongo did not object to the application made by the defence counsel.
Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko adjourned the matter to November 24 for facts to be read to the accused in respect to the first count.
Kapeko also extended bail for the accused including the Zimbabweans because they are not a flight risk and have permanent places of abode in Botswana. Several police sources who spoke to this publication said that it was their first time in their careers to hear a case of alleged gold panners appearing in court.
The police officers said that they normally handle cases of unlawful possession of diamonds but always read news of illegal gold miners (especially with respect to the first count that the accused are facing) in South Africa where miners in some cases die beneath disused mines.
The police sources corroborated media reports from South Africa that says that chronic poverty and high unemployment rate in Zimbabwe and other countries in the SADC region fuel the illegal mining of gold.
According to Reuters, in Zimbabwe, unemployment is above 80% but on a good trip underground, a zama-zama (as gold panners are called in Isizulu) can recover gold worth 3,000 rand ($210) or more once the ore has been crushed, panned and then ‘cleaned’ with mercury to remove silt.
Gold reached an all-time high of about 659,000 rand ($48,700) a kilogram in late June, boosted by the weak rand and rising demand for precious metals and even the illegal mining of the metal, said Bloomberg news.