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Quarry Mining In Bulawayo: Employment or Health?

Pumula North residents in Bulawayo are at loggerheads with each other over a quarry mining venture.


BY LIZWE SEBATHA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | OCT 18, 2021

A new quarry mining venture in Bulawayo could bring much-needed employment to the local community, but at what expense to the wellbeing of locals?


BULAWAYO (The Citizen Bulletin) — A quarry mining venture in Pumula North, Bulawayo has divided opinion among residents in one of the city’s oldest suburbs.

Fikile Moyo, 23, sees the venture by the Chinese Haulin Investments company in his ward 17 as providing job opportunities for him and other jobless youths in the area.

Jobs are scarce as companies either downsize or close shop altogether, owing to the country’s harsh economic climate.

There are no functional job centres where Moyo and other jobless youth can find relevant, up to date information about job openings and job advice.

Moyo says he mostly finds this information on the internet or in WhatsApp groups.

“It is in one of the WhatsApp groups where I learnt that the Chinese company is opening a quarry mine,” he says. “My wish is that the company keeps its promise and employs us, the youth. I desperately need that job.”

However, Patrick Ndlovu, a Pumula North resident and an activist, vehemently opposes the proposed quarry mining venture.

The most common purpose of the quarry is to extract stone for building materials.

Ndlovu and other residents are even threatening court action to stop the proposed mining venture.

Among the concerns of Ndlovu and other residents is the dust and noise pollution emanating from quarry blasting activities, putting residents at risk of inhaling dust, which is detrimental to their health and well-being.

Beyond job opportunities for the unemployed youth, Ndlovu and other residents raise fears of environmental damage emanating from the quarry mining operations.


“As residents, we have several concerns. The area councillor (Sikhululekile Moyo) says they have promised to hire 14 casual labourers. But is that what we are good for as residents? Casual labour?”
Patrick Ndlovu, a Pumula North resident


“We are also concerned with the environmental impact of the quarry on the eco culture of that area? The land reclamation after the rock is mined out? How will the land be reclaimed and rehabilitated?

“At what cost? At whose cost? We, as residents, are saying, let's look at 50 years beyond instead of now.”

At present, the company has been busy setting up a base behind Pumula High School, the location of the proposed mine.

Sanelisiwe Ngwenya, another resident who stays adjacent to the school, says she fears contracting silicosis and other related diseases resulting from millions of dust particles from granite blasting activities.

“There are health concerns as well. The quarry is only half a kilometre eastwards of Pumula North. In other words, it’s downwind of the residents. It's another Wenela situation brewing,” she says.

Wenela is an acronym for Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, comprising former South African mines workers from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Botswana and Mozambique. They used to work in South African mines in the 1970s, with a significant number believed to have been infected with lung diseases while working there.


“The fine dust will certainly pose respiratory challenges for the population. Who will take care of the potential health bills? We are also concerned about the poor track record of Chinese miners elsewhere in the country. They have shown that they don't care for the population and their concerns.”
Sanelisiwe Ngwenya, Pumula North resident


In 2017, residents of Mpopoma high-density suburb approached the courts seeking compensation after their houses developed cracks owing to underground vibrations reportedly emanating from Davis Granite stone blasting operations of the firm.

Findings from the granite blasting operations at Davis Granite Company still have not been made public. Image by International Mining


Davis Granite Company, the largest supplier of granite aggregates in Zimbabwe, carries out its operations along Khami Road, a few kilometres from the Mpopoma suburb.

In 2016, the government was forced to institute a probe into the granite blasting operations.

Still, findings of the investigations have not been made public, a situation that resulted in residents approaching the courts.

Some Pumula North residents express the same feelings of having their houses destroyed by the quarry mining operations. However, the area councillor says the proposed mining operations were above board after getting a green light from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Mines and Mining Development ministry.

“Consultations were held, and the majority of residents expressed satisfaction with the mining project,” Moyo says.

“We held about three stakeholder consultations where the residents were given answers to their fears and questions.  There is nothing sinister, but we know there are some people who want to create controversy.”


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According to the area councillor, about ten local youth have since been employed by the Chinese firm. Officials from the Chinese firm were not available for comment despite repeated efforts.

EMA Bulawayo Provincial Manager, Sithembisiwe Ndlovu says: “We received consultative reports from the council, residents and other stakeholders, and there were no objections as far as I can recall.”

As a way forward, the area councillor says there will be another stakeholder meeting with the council, EMA and Mines Ministry, and all relevant stakeholders will be notified.

Until then, the job hunt continues for unemployed youth in ward 17 who see the quarry mining venture as their only chance towards securing employment.


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