By Kwedu News
As Zimbabwe strides to make a mark in the global market by being one of the world’s largest lithium producers, the mineral has become a curse to local communities as their normal living is been chaotically disrupted.
With the Midlands Province endowed with vast mineral wealth, it is not surprising that Mberengwa has become a hive of activity owing to rich deposit of lithium.
As mining corporates, syndicates, cartels and politicians scramble for the mineral, local communities have been left to suffer health risks and livelihood disruptions owing to the unprecedented mining activities taking place.
A case in point is the Sandawana Primary School which has seen pupils and teachers having to bear the rumbling noises from mining machineries and dust from the activities during learning hours; living them at risk of contracting respiratory diseases, tuberculosis and several others.
At the school, lithium mining activities are now happening within Sandawana Primary premises which has also seen an increase in population with the school’s toilets having to accommodate more people as there are no proper ablution facilities in the area, leaving pupils exposed to possible disease outbreaks like cholera.
The Mberengwa community recently formed the Mberengwa Natural Endowments Foundation, whose Secretary, Takavafira Zhou, is calling for responsible mining as the mining activities have become a threat to the school.
“The recent discovery of lithium along the Mwezha range and at Sandawana in particular, threaten the smooth operation of the school and the health of both pupils and teachers.
“It is noteworthy that lithium is heaped within the former emerald mining premises, just 30 metres from the classrooms for crashing into concentrates.
“Mountains of Lithium rocks are heaped within the school premises,” he said.
“The roaring noise from trucks, dynamite blasting and the accompanying dust have created unbearable dust and noise pollution unpalatable to learning and teaching.
“There is too much dust hanging in the horizon of Sandawana School. Dust is virtually raining in classrooms at Sandawana and at the end of the day pupils and teachers are virtually soaked in dust all over their bodies and clothes,” Zhou said.
On using the school’s ablution facilities, Zhou said “the quantum growth of population and use of school toilets has created a heath hazard in the school. The schools’ proximity to the mine working area has, therefore, become the greatest liability, more so because toilets of the former emerald mining area are now dysfunction except at the school.
“With more than 6000 people living in the vicinity of the school and using bush toilets, the school is also littered with used papers, tissues and feces every time the wind blows in the direction of the school.”
Zhou said the Mberengwa Education Ministry District officials have ignored continuous pleas from the school for assistance as the mining corporates and cartels bully them.
He called for urgent attention to the situation at the school before things get out of hand; if possible, build a new school at an alternative site.
“A professional decision has to be made urgently. A stitch in time serves nine and to be forewarned is to be forearmed.
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education needs to take a bold and urgent decision in the best interest of learners and teachers. The miners must be forced to alternatively build a new state of the art Sandawana boarding Primary School at a new location suitable for learning and teaching as part of corporate social responsibility,” he said.
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