Environmental Armageddon: Unregulated Mining Threatens Zimbabwe’s Land and Lives

Environmental activists warn Zimbabwe faces an ecological and public health crisis as unregulated mining destroys land, pollutes water and threatens lives (image source)

HARARE — Environmental activists have issued a stark warning that Zimbabwe is sliding toward an environmental armageddon as unregulated mining continues to ravage landscapes, contaminate water sources and threaten public health. The alarm was sounded during a discussion on This Morning on Asakhe, where experts said the crisis has escalated beyond conservation concerns into a national security and public health emergency.

Farai Maguwu, Executive Director of the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), said the rapid spread of informal and illegal mining is being driven by economic collapse and widespread job losses. “It is like we have discovered minerals for the first time — everybody is getting into mining,” Maguwu said, arguing that the shutdown of factories and lack of formal employment have pushed communities toward mining as a survival strategy.

He warned that weak governance and compromised enforcement have allowed mining to encroach into protected and ecologically sensitive areas. Mountains are being flattened, rivers polluted and wildlife habitats destroyed despite policies banning activities such as riverbed mining. Maguwu cited damage at Mavuradona Wilderness, Shurugwi and Poterekwa Mountain, alleging that some enforcement agencies have been captured by mining syndicates. “What is even more worrying is that those who should be enforcing the law are now part of the syndicates destroying the environment,” he said, naming police, soldiers and intelligence operatives among those allegedly implicated.

The environmental risks, activists say, are both immediate and long-term. Open-cast mining has increasingly replaced underground operations, accelerating deforestation and turning productive farmland into pits and tailings dumps. Maguwu warned that miners are excavating beneath roads and settlements, creating unstable underground cavities that could collapse or trigger flash floods during heavy rains.

Of particular concern is the uncontrolled use of mercury and cyanide in gold processing. These toxic chemicals, activists say, are washed into rivers and shallow wells through runoff and heap-leaching, especially during the rainy season. Rural communities are most exposed, as many households depend on untreated shallow wells for drinking water. “Many Zimbabweans are dying, and will die prematurely, because of this,” Maguwu warned.

Echoing these concerns, Nkosikhona Sibanda of the Centre for Environmental and Corporate Accountability Research (CECAR) said mining activity has surged in Matabeleland North, often involving foreign companies. Studies conducted between 2024 and 2025, he said, revealed dangerously high levels of air pollution in Hwange, with hospitals reporting increases in respiratory illnesses and chronic diseases. “People are essentially walking corpses because they are inhaling toxic gases,” Sibanda said.

Activists argue that the crisis now threatens food security, public health and social stability, making it a governance issue rather than a purely environmental one. They are calling for urgent, coordinated action, including stricter enforcement of mining laws, transparent oversight of mining permits, heavy penalties for toxic waste disposal and community-led rehabilitation of damaged land and water sources.

Without swift intervention, experts warn Zimbabwe risks irreversible ecological destruction and a deepening public health crisis that will far outlast any short-term economic benefits generated by the mining boom.