Mining & Trade News

Manesi Kapeni Village in the area of Senior Chief Kapeni in the south-western part of Blantyre is located almost 5-minutes’ drive off the M1 road. There is almost an air of tranquility as one passes through trees which form part of the surrounding and the chirping sounds of birds and insects. The sight of many people working in the farms clearly demonstrates that it is a predominantly agricultural area.

But this area, in September, experienced acts of violence. The community members blocked a Chinese company which is constructing a bypass road in Blantyre from mining quarry stones in the area. What followed later were a series of meetings between government officials, the community and local leaders. No resolution has been reached so far.

Village head Manesi Kapeni said the initiative to start mining quarry in his area came as a surprise. So do his subjects who were shocked to see the Chinese coming into the area to start testing the rock quarry for construction of Blantyre By-Pass Road. Most of the information the village head had about the project then was through grapevine.

“They just came with their machines and this surprised my subjects. Consequently,  some of them started rioting,” he told Mining and Trade Review in an interview, adding; “I told them [contractors] to go back as some of my subjects accused me that I had sold part of the village where the rock was.”

But later, the contractors came and took samples of the rock and assessed the surrounding area to determine how much land will be affected. Those within the vicinity of the affected area were to be compensated.

“When the officers from the District Council visited the area there was riot. People insisted they would not relocate since some of their relatives were buried there. I sat down with Traditional Authority Kapeni and the District Council officials after engaging the community but up to now there is no resolution to the wrangle. The Chinese came again and did some testing, I am told, but we do not know what will happen next.”

Not isolated incident

What happened in Manase Kapeni Village is growing into a familiar phenomenon in Malawi’s minerals sector as recently a vehicle belonging to a Chinese firm carrying gemstones was detained in Mzimba following a row which erupted between community members and the firm with the latter being accused of smuggling gemstones out of the area.

Senior Chief Pherembe of Mzimba said in an interview: “We have noticed that there is an influx of these Chinese operators in the district that are conducting mining activities without proper procedures.”

“They are doing that on customary land which belongs to us and therefore we have to be informed of their presence.”

 The chiefs threatened to shut down the gemstone mines.

Members of parliament and councilors in Dowa district also called for suspension of all mining activities in their areas until the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining gives an explanation on how it is dealing with illegal mining in the district.

Unanswered questions

According to Consulting Geologist, john Nkhoma, there is need for proper community sensitisation before the inception of any mining project in the country.

“The company should inform the community through the District Council and Mines department of what their activities are and if there is any compensation, people must know who will do the property evaluation and modes of payment,” said Nkhoma, a veteran Geologist, who is Managing Director of Chiwandama GeoConsultants.

He said in the case of the quarry mining wrangle in Blantyre, there should have been consultation for the company to be awarded an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) certificate.

The question is; “Did the company do that. When they were mobilising did they inform all the relevant stakeholders?”

Reacting to the events, Deputy Director for Mines Department in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Peter Chilumanga said in order to deal away with wrangles between mining company’s and members of the community in mining areas, government has proposed that all artisanal and small scale miners (ASMs) using equipment should get medium scale mining licenses.

 “In that way, issues of CSR as complained by communities will be a thing of the past as all medium scale miners are mandated to execute CSR activities signed by all interested and affected parties,” Chilumanga said.

 Surely, if the government and the quarry mining contractor in Manesa Kapeni Village had followed such well knitted arrangements as unveiled by Chilumanga, things could not reached such a boiling point in this beautiful village.

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