The First Podcast

In this podcast, Bikita District Ward 11 Councillor Lawrence Vhovha sets the record straight on Bikita Minerals’ role in both community development and community problems. He exposes what he calls misleading claims by Bikita Minerals over construction of Shumbaimwe Clinic and non-existent boreholes. He explains how the clinic was partly funded by Constituency Development Fund (CDF) […]

Listen to a village and community leader lamenting the loss of village cattle to mining pits in the district of Mberengwa. The pits are left behind largely by artisanal gold and lithium miners. After extracting the resources, the miners do not bother to cover the pits and reclaim the land.

Councillor Mpofu of Mberengwa speaks to an EnviroPress citizen journalist on the dangers posed by open pits left by artisanal miners. Cattle fall into the pits, leading to severe losses for impoverished miners. The councillor calls upon authorities to reign in irresponsible mining as practiced by the miners

Permanent Secretary for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Addmore Pazvakavambwa talks about the lithium and the great potential it holds for the province’s development. The most senior public servant in Masvingo province is convinced that more could be done to uplift local communities using the natural resources particularly lithium which is mined by Bikita Minerals. […]

This podcast Hevoi FM news bulletin zeroes in on some of the marginal employment opportunities created by Bikita Minerals and accessible by ordinary community members. Though many people have been fortunate enough to gain entry into the formal job market, skilled opportunities remain largely out of reach for locals.

Bikita District Development Coordinator (DDC) Bernard Hadzirabwi bemoans the absence of community share ownership policies in lithium mining. He protests that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) alone was not enough an instrument for equitable distribution of lithium wealth for the benefit of host communities. Currently, there are very little benefits that Bikita realises from the extraction [&#...

In this podcast, Acting Chief Marozva Joseph Mudhe dismisses the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) consultative processes, which are provided for by the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27], as rigged thus meaningless. The act is buttressed by SI 169 of 2024, officially titled the “Environment Management (Environmental Impact Assessment and Ecosystems Protection) (Amendment) Regulation...

Villagers talks about the difficulties that resulted after the discovery of lithium in Mberengwa. There were tensions, lawlessness and serious social ills soon after, with school girls getting picked up by truck drivers for sex work. With assistance from Silveira House, the community was able to engage with local mining leaders at Sandawana to take […]