Women's voices on Zimbabwe's Draft Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill

This Blog is about my reflections on my fieldwork in Zimbabwe’s host mining communities and my interactions with other stakeholders in this sector. I will share my observations and insights on the challenges women face in their struggle to be heard and empowered along the mining value chain.

Last week I participated in parliamentary public hearings on the draft Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill. These hearings were being led by the Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy. I attended the meetings held in Hwange, Kwekwe,  Shurugwi, Mhondoro-Ngezi and Mutoko. The main objective of the public hearings was for Parliamentarians to get the public’s views on the Bill based on the gaps the public identified including their suggestions on improvements to the Bill. Women leveraged on this open space and raised their voice to demand a more gender progressive mining law. Here is what the women said:

Hwange- Mining dehumanizes women by ruining the environment; increasing their burden of unpaid care; taking away their livelihoods and reducing their economic status; excluding them from decision-making; increasing all forms of violence against women. The Bill cannot remain gender neutral but instead must unequivocally state how it will empower women to benefit from the sector.

Shurugwi- Riverbed mining must be the reserved exclusively for women. Women have no access to capital because women have limited access to land which is usually required as collateral for capital loans. Riverbed mining requires limited capital requirements. Why must the government with all its capital muscle reserve exclusive rights for riverbed mining. Let the government do hard-core capital intensive mining projects and leave women to do riverbed mining.

Mhondoro-Ngezi - Local content provisions must be clear and reserve employment quota for women at all levels of the mining operations including senior positions.

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) must be available for everyone to access in a format they understand  and the community must be empowered to conduct independent EIA monitoring and to ensure compliance with EIA mandates by mining companies.

Kwekwe- The Cadastre system must have gender dis-aggregated data. Government must set a quota for women to do small scale mining especially in the gold sector.

The bill is silent on artisanal mining. Women’s contribution is not  being recognized yet they are the invisible hand contributing to gold production through artisanal mining. Recognize and regulate artisanal mining and support this crucial women’s role in the mining sector

Mutoko- Mining revenue must set clear percentage of royalties to be remitted to the Local authorities (suggested 5%) who must use the mining revenue for gender responsive service delivery

Granite mining companies must partner with the community. The community can organize itself into cooperatives who will provide labor and the mineral whilst the miner can provide the capital in 50 50 partnership. Women will have equal representation in the cooperatives and will thus benefit.

Mining companies must publish what they pay to central and local  government the law must make this mandatory so that we know how the money is spent. This will work towards improving social services and women no longer die during child birth because of poor service delivery.

 In a nutshell, women said it all. The women of Zimbabwe raised their  voices and made known the mining law they want. This is a crucial step in advancing their rights and economic empowerment in this sector. The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association has produced Gendered Asks of the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill to sensitize policy makers on how they can strengthen the Bill. At this moment one can only hope that the law makers will heed women's voices as women continue to fight for their rights and power in this key economic sector.