Zimbabwe to Declare State of Disaster Over Illegal Alluvial River Mining

Harare - The Zimbabwean government is preparing to declare a State of Disaster on several of the country’s major river systems to combat rampant illegal alluvial mining, deforestation and environmental degradation threatening critical water supplies.

The emergency designation will enable authorities to bypass bureaucratic delays, mobilise state resources and deploy specialised rehabilitation teams to restore devastated waterways that serve as the backbone for national irrigation and agricultural production.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr. Anxious Masuka announced the impending decree during a wheat production briefing with regional farmers in Mashonaland Central province.

"The President will declare a State of Disaster on damaged rivers, including Mazowe and Murove rivers," Masuka said.

"This will allow us to establish teams to rehabilitate the rivers and stop further destruction," he said.

Under the disaster framework, the state intends to fast-track environmental restoration, escalate law enforcement operations and fund emergency engineering interventions, including riverbank stabilisation and dredging.

Concurrently, the government is drafting emergency regulations under the Civil Protection Act to stiffen legal and financial penalties for environmental offenses.

The revised legal framework will target both individual wildcat miners and organised syndicates operating illegal heavy machinery on riverbeds.

"The second legislation will ensure perpetrators are held accountable and rivers are reclaimed," Masuka said.

"If they cannot pay for rehabilitation, their equipment will be confiscated by Government," he said.

The Minister urged local populations to actively monitor remote ecosystems and report illicit operations directly to state security apparatuses, noting that independent aerial surveillance and drone footage secretly captured in mining concessions had exposed severe institutional challenges.

"The footage is heartbreaking," Masuka said, "drone footage secretly captured in mining areas exposed widespread destruction. Communities and illegal miners are destroying our rivers through alluvial mining and deforestation."

The ecological crisis has directly impacted Zimbabwe’s strategic agricultural output, specifically its intensive winter wheat program.

Siltation and upstream catchment destruction have reduced major reservoirs to critical lows, with the historic Mazowe Dam currently at just 14.2 percent of capacity and nearby Mwenje Dam at 18 percent.

The water shortages have forced agricultural authorities to scale back seasonal planting targets in Mashonaland Central, traditionally the nation's second-largest wheat-producing province, from nearly 28,000 hectares last season to a maximum cap of 25,000 hectares this year.