African governments polluting environment for mineral riches
Africa’s poverty is forcing governments and greedy politicians on the continent to risk the environment into accepting dubious mining deals that do not preserve the surroundings.
This was revealed on Thursday after a discussion on mining and the environment facilitated by lieutenant colonel Emmanuel Kunda, a Zambian veteran journalist, who is also a mass media communication lecturer at the University of Zambia.
The discussion at the 2014 Journalism Summer School (JSS) in Lusaka, Zambia exposed serious environmental threats and damages that have been made over the years on the continent, which among others has left the soil in some parts of the region barren, air and rivers polluted and resulted in disease outbreaks.
What sparked the debate, however, was that every country has environmental laws and have also subscribed to the international ratification on environmental protection.
The participants wondered do governments watch while the environment is being polluted and take no action to reverse the trend.
“It is poverty. We have put money first in everything and so all eyes are on what will bring money. There is no room to consider the other side of the initiative. Politicians and senior officials in government know the laws, but deliberately and because of greed and riches opt to ignore the laws and accept mining deals that do not preserve the environment,” said Kunda when summarising the student’s observations.
He said African governments are getting it wrong by focusing its eyes on benefits that come with mining, adding that because of this, mining investors are abusing the contracts by providing substandard services to the communities.
Kunda cited some areas in Zambia where some individuals were transferred to a new place to create a mine and compensated with infertile land and substandard houses that did not last long, forcing them into abject poverty.
“We need to be careful and stop watching our governments and politicians signing mining deals that are not beneficial. We are complaining of climate change because we damaged our environment and now we are watching non-renewable resources going in exchange of damaged environment,” he said.
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa) programme manager Dumisani Moyo said Africa’s second biggest problem is corruption, stressing that most leaders and politicians sign projects for their benefit and not the entire society.
“There is too much corruption and lack of transparency in the way governments run their activities, especially mining. This gives those few in power an opportunity to reap from projects designed to benefit the nation.
