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“Our homes are not safe”: Landmines Threaten Lives In Hwange

Landmines: Hwange residents are encouraged to treat every piece of metal with suspicion


BY LETHOKUHLE NKOMO | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | MAR 5, 2021

Every metal piece in this community is a potential landmine; even from one's homestead, an explosion can occur.


HWANGE (The Citizen Bulletin) — Recently, an 11-year-old Simangani girl under Chief Hwange sustained severe injuries, which led to her leg’s amputation after a landmine detonated on her while she was playing in their yard with her siblings.

An eye-witness to the incident Orsino Mupande, says: “The girl is severely injured, and the parents are finding it hard to come to terms with the incident. There were some pieces of her leg all over the ground; the girl is left with wounds on her stomach as well. She is lucky to be alive.”

Meanwhile, the Simangani Village head Zero Nyoni says the explosion which happened was a quick reminder of their captivity.


“Our homes are not safe; this child was just playing in her yard at home when the landmine exploded. We do not know who is next.”
Zero Nyoni, Simangani villahe head


Nyoni further says their domestic animals are also at risk because of the landmines.

From January 23 to February 19, the villagers have discovered three M969 anti-personnel landmines, including the one that almost killed the girl.

In 2006, Zimbabwe’s government launched a program to demine all landmines installed during the war. Hwange rural district is one of the many communities in the country affected by anti-personnel mines laid along the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe that urgently need to be de-mined.

Villagers living in Mwemba, Simangani and along the Zambezi River in rural Hwange communities fear dislodging landmines that are likely to explode, leading to death. Parents are always on the lookout for their children who may mistakenly play with a landmine thinking they are toys.

According to oral history, the land mines were laid by Rhodesian security forces as a barrier against the infiltration of liberation fighters from neighbouring states. Some land mines were mapped, but information of the mapping was lost during the 1980 transition.

Due to the lack of information on these landmines’ placement, Hwange rural villagers are captives in their land as their children, and their future generations still live next to landmines 41 years after independence.

The community Headman Lovemore Nyoni has appealed to the government to reconsider visiting Hwange rural bordering villages and the rural areas along the Zambezi River in demining the areas.

“The heavy rains experienced by the district have probably led to the resurfacing of these dangerous landmines and, as a result putting the community in danger,” says Nyoni.


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In the meantime, Matabeleland North Police Spokesperson Inspector Glory Banda is encouraging people living in these areas to treat every piece of metal with suspicion.

“We encourage everyone living in these areas to be careful and not to touch any metal on the surface as it may be a potential land mine,” he says.

Although villagers are urged to stay away from any suspicious metals, women in this community feel they are losing out on the business of scrap metal collection.

Scrap metal is bought and sold by weight. Image by Hammer and Tongues


“Before the rains, we have been surviving on picking up and selling scrap metal to people who come from Harare. Now that we have been ordered to be suspicious of any metal, we are losing financially.”
Felicity Tshuma, a woman into scrap metal collection business from Simangani


According to the landmine statistics monitor of 2012, landmine clearing operations began in 1982, but progress has been slow, a fact blamed on inadequate funding and lack of political will.

However, since 1998 the United States of America government injected 23.9 million dollars into Zimbabwe to protect people from landmines and protect economic opportunities through safe access land. The US supports Zimbabwe’s goal to clear all minefields in the country by 2025 safely.


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