Thread by @FMaguwu

Penhalonga update
1. Good evening fellow Zimbabweans and friends. I update you on the violent clashes that took place in penhalonga yesterday between local community members and politically linked makorokoza operating under the banner of Prime Royal Africa

2. PRA is a shadowy company with no prior experience in mining but muscled its way into Redwing in 2018 through its political connections. The ecological disaster unfolding in Penhalonga is heartbreaking.

3. PRA brought several hundred makorokoza into Penhalonga. Predictably conflict was inevitable. Pits are everywhere and some locals claim pits were dug too close to their houses. Community accuses the PRA-linked makorokoza of environmental armageddon, moral decadence and crime

4. On Friday the community mobilized and demanded that makorokoza leave Penhalonga with immediate effect. A melee ensued and two pple were injured seriously. Police fired warning shots into the air and arrested Twenty Two (22) locals. Some picked from their homes

5. Fifteen released without charge this morning. Seven were taken to Mutare Magistrate's court and later released. They will be back at court on the 19th of Oct facing charges of inciting and committing public violence

These conflicts will escalate countrywide leading to breakdown of law and order unless government depoliticizes mining,enforces regulations, ensures locals' interests are considered and improves the entire economy as opposed to the current focus on mining only.

Finally minerals, if in the hands of gangsters and organized criminal syndicates, makes a country ungovernable and Zimbabwe is leading the race to the bottom in the SADC region.