When livelihoods take a battering...Mapping the 'New Gold Rush' in Zimbabwe's Angwa-Pote Basin

Abstract

The paper analyses the gold panning saga in Zimbabwe's mineral-rich Mashonaland West Province. It focuses on the Angwa-Pote Basin in the wake of the deteriorating economy and the land redistribution programme. Of particular interest are the ramifications of massive job losses in mining, commercial farming and urban areas on alluvial gold panning, which in many instances is the only resort for scores of embattled households. It is argued that traditional methods of checking the negative outcomes of gold panning have been rendered impotent. The discussion examines this fast evolving gold rush by positioning it within the wider national and local contexts. The contributing factors to the rise and persistence of this phenomenon are explained at length. Finally, the conclusion is made that if deeper insights into the new gold rush are to be gained more research is necessary.

Introduction

Since 2000, the livelihood situation in Zimbabwe has taken a turn for the worse. By mid 2005, the local currency had lost 99 per cent of its value (Clemens and Moss 2005); incomes in real terms had tumbled by over 98 per cent compared to their 1990 value, 'wiping out the income gains of the past 52 years' (EIU 2006:27); unemployment, poverty and the cost of living had all skyrocketed to unprecedented levels (Gono 2005). By the end of 2006, inflation was over 1,280 per cent (Gono 2007:24); latest estimates put unemployment at 70 per cent, and the poverty headcount ratio at 70 per cent (IMF 2005, Gono 2007). Some argue that unemployment in 2006 was 85 per cent, and poverty was over 90 per cent (ICG 2007).

For decades, gold panning has been one of the few remaining coping strategies — taken here to mean 'the specific efforts, both behavioural and psychological, that people employ to master, tolerate, reduce, or minimize stressful events' (Taylor 1998) — for a cross section of Zimbabweans. What the country's economic crisis means for survival is that viable alternative livelihood opportunities for people relying on gold panning for survival have not come up. At the same time livelihood options for households adversely affected by the crisis have drastically dwindled. As a result, households engaged in gold panning have stayed put while others who find themselves with nothing to fall back on join the scramble for the precious, and indeed lifesaving, mineral. Thus gold panning still remains one of the few remaining coping strategies for many. A survey and projection of the socio-economic situation in Zimbabwe, shows that it is inconceivable to expect a letup in the relentless pressure on livelihoods (EIU 2006). This means more gold panning at least in the short to medium term.

Unsurprisingly, there has been a major boost in gold panning as the original panners soldier on and new entrants continue flocking in. This new wave of arrivals has created what to all intents and purposes is the 'new gold rush'. By comparison, the pre-2000 gold rush, was small with fewer and relatively homogenous fortune-seekers trickling into, and even fewer, settling on, the gold panning sites (Kamete 1992, 1999). The original panners were homogenous in the sense that there were mostly people of similar socioeconomic status and background, dominated by former farm workers and mineworkers, most of them immigrants or their descendants. In contrast to the original almost homogenous gold-panner population, the current population is an assortment of people with vastly different backgrounds and origins. They are united by one common aspect, namely livelihoods in distress.

This paper examines the implications of this dramatic deterioration in socio-economic indicators on gold panning. It begins by surveying the discourses on alluvial gold panning in Zimbabwe. This is followed by an outline of the post-2000 socio-economic developments and how they impinge on livelihoods. The discussion then analyses the framework within which the events and processes in the Angwa-Pote basin are unfolding. Following this is an exploration of the key participants in the new gold rush. The paper concentrates on the key factors that have caused and facilitated the...