Community members in Nthalire area, Chitipa District, have struck gold, literally—having discovered the precious mineral closer to Nyika National Park.
When The Daily Times crew visited the area, it found a dozen-plus people camping in Kadanje Forest, which is closer to Kaperekezi gate, one of the entry points into the park.
The locals are using hoes, shovels and other sharp metals for digging, with marks of their activities visible through the proliferation of trenches that have become abodes for mosquitoes due to the stagnant water that has been trapped in them.
However, Traditional Authority Wavikaza indicated that initial information he received was that the community members were mining coal.
“It is true that mining activities are taking place in my area and the one behind the activities stays in Mzuzu City,” he said.
One of the miners said, on a good day, they sell gold for up to K500,000.
“We are making money here. This is our source of income. We spend our time here and the market for this gold is already available,” he said.
However, Chitipa District Commissioner Macmillan Magomero said his office was not aware of the gold mining activities.
He added that issues pertaining to mining were centralised.
“How did the locals know that the area has gold deposits? It means there is somebody behind the mining and the person is using the locals to get the gold,” Magomero said.
He then asked the Ministry of Mining to share findings of the Kawuniwuni Project with district councils so that they could know what mineral deposits they have in areas under their jurisdiction.
The Ministry of Lands was yet to respond to our questionnaire by the time we went to bed.
But mining governance coordinator at Church and Society of Livingstonia Synod of the CCAP, Paul Mvula, accused some officials at the Ministry of Mining of sleeping on the job.
“This is just an example of many cases that are happening in Malawi. We are watching our minerals go out without the country benefitting from them. This must be stopped; otherwise, our country will remain poor forever,” Mvula said.
Government is championing socio-economic development through the three sectors of agriculture, tourism and mining to help revamp the country’s economy.
The Reserve Bank of Malawi buys gold from community members that are under cooperatives.
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