Mvuma, Zimbabwe – 4 June 2025
By Business Reporter | ZimEye | A gold panner has been arrested after digging directly beneath an active railway line in Mvuma, causing significant structural damage to the track, the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has confirmed.
In a statement issued via its official social media platform, the NRZ said the suspect was apprehended by its loss control personnel on Sunday. The damage was discovered during routine inspections, with images showing a large trench excavated underneath the railway line — a serious threat to rail operations and public safety.
“An artisanal gold miner was arrested by NRZ loss control personnel on Sunday while digging for gold under the railway tracks in Mvuma. As can be seen from the picture, the miner caused extensive damage to the ground under the tracks,” the NRZ
The NRZ has since warned the public not to carry out mining within the railway reserve — an area that extends 45 metres on either side of railway lines — noting that such activities are illegal.
“It is an offence under the Railways Act to prospect for minerals within the railway reserve and is punishable by up to 10 years in jail,” the statement added.
Reacting to the incident, Donald Nyarota, Communications and Advocacy Officer at the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), said the damage is not merely an isolated act of illegality, but a symptom of a broader failure in mineral governance.
“This incident reflects a deeper crisis — communities are destroying national infrastructure out of desperation, while mining companies extract billions without developing the areas they operate in,” Nyarota said.
“This incident should be a wake-up call — not just about the risks of illegal mining, but about the deeper failures of mineral governance that continue to drive an extractivist agenda that is capital driven. As we condemn illegal mining in protected areas such as railway reserves, this incident must also compel the government, mining authorities, and private companies to confront the root causes of such acts. Communities are increasingly resorting to desperate and unsafe mining practices due to exclusion from formal mining benefits, widespread poverty, and the lack of development in mineral-rich areas.”
Authorities have not yet disclosed the identity of the arrested miner. The NRZ says an engineering team has been dispatched to assess and repair the damage before any trains resume service on the affected line.
The time has come for African govts to pass a law imposing mandatory rail construction development on every mining claim, and mandatory diploma training certificate in smelting from raw to finished products. In such a move every mining claim holder must construct at least 5km of railway from their mine to the nearest community centre.
This is a developing story.