By Staff Reporter
A Bindura Ward 6 Councilor, Oliver Mukombwe has slammed illicit mining activities in the town which he blamed for escalating women’s rights abuses.
He made the remarks while speaking at the Economic Justice for Women’s Project (EJWP) organized event.
“Indeed miners have defiled the Mazowe River to the extent that many have to travel for much longer distances to fetch water.We get our water from Mazowe River but mining activities in Mashonaland Central Province continue to defile the water sources. Indeed, we are currently spending much more money than what Harare spends cleaning our polluted water,” he said.
He said in the recent past, the local authority once roped in officials from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) to stop mining activities along Mazowe River in an operation which worked briefly before it resurfaced again.
“The local authority has since tabled plans to draw water from Masembura Dam using a pipeline which runs straight to the Bindura Waterworks. The plans were arranged about two years ago and we are now awaiting government approvals,” he said.
The project is set to establish a 25-kilometre water pipeline from Masembura Dam to the capital of Mashonaland Central Province.
