ENVIRONMENT, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu will tomorrow visit areas, which had been earmarked for mining activities within Hwange National Park.
The tour by Minister Ndlovu, which is being coordinated by Love for Africa director Mr Blessing Munyenyiwa comes after environmentalists, wildlife experts and the general public raised a red flag on impeding coal-mining activities within the Hwange National Park.
The Hwange community has been leading from the front in showing their disgruntlement over the latest development through airing their views on various media platforms.
To this end, Government has since banned mining on areas held by National Parks with immediate effect while steps are being undertaken to immediately cancel all mining titles held in National Parks.
Minister Ndlovu will also take time to tour vast swathes of land which have been degraded due to illegal clay poaching activities by some unscrupulous individuals within the Hwange Local Board (HLB)’s area of jurisdiction.
The illegal soil abstraction is taking place in the bushy areas of Empumalanga and Don Bosco, which have since been designated for housing projects.
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has since issued HLB with an order to rehabilitate the affected area not later than 25 September.