By A Correspondent -In Chivi District, Masvingo Province, a growing environmental and public health crisis is unfolding as toxic mercury waste from artisanal and illegal gold mining activities contaminates local streams, placing rural communities at serious risk. Masvingo Women Rights Advocacy Group (MWRAG), in partnership with Gender Equality and Girl Child Empowerment (GEGE), raises alarm over the widespread pollution originating from gold processing sites around Chasiyatende Business Centre, where mercury is still being used despite national and international bans, with waste flowing into tributaries that feed the Tende, Runde, and ultimately Save River systems.

The contamination of these waterways has far-reaching consequences, as mercury is a highly toxic substance that bioaccumulates in aquatic ecosystems, entering the food chain through fish, irrigated crops, and livestock. Communities relying on these rivers for drinking water, agriculture, and domestic use are exposed to severe health risks, including neurological damage, kidney failure, and developmental challenges in children, while the long-term environmental damage threatens livelihoods and ecosystem sustainability across the region.

From a gender perspective, the burden of this crisis falls disproportionately on women and girls who are primarily responsible for water collection, food preparation, and household care in rural areas. As water sources become unsafe, women are forced to travel longer distances in search of cleaner water, increasing their physical strain and reducing opportunities for income generation, education, and participation in community life, while also exposing them directly to contaminated water during daily chores and placing them at higher risk of mercury-related health complications, including pregnancy-related risks.

The situation also intensifies unpaid care work, as women must attend to sick family members affected by waterborne toxins, reinforcing cycles of poverty and gender inequality. This environmental injustice effectively denies women their fundamental rights to health, dignity, and safe water, highlighting how extractive activities, when poorly regulated, deepen existing gender disparities and undermine resilience in vulnerable rural communities.

MWRAG and GEGE note that these developments constitute clear violations of Zimbabwe’s legal and constitutional framework, including Section 73 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to a clean and healthy environment, and Section 77, which enshrines the right to safe, clean, and potable water, as well as Section 17 on gender equality. The Environmental Management Act is also being contravened through the unlawful discharge of hazardous substances into water bodies, while the Mines and Minerals Act is being disregarded by operators failing to adhere to environmentally responsible mining practices, and the Public Health Act is being undermined as communities are exposed to preventable health hazards.

At the international level, continued mercury use in gold mining violates Zimbabwe’s obligations under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which seeks to eliminate mercury-related environmental harm, as well as commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those relating to clean water, health, gender equality, and environmental protection. The persistence of this pollution reflects gaps in enforcement, limited access to safer mining alternatives, and insufficient support for transitioning artisanal miners to sustainable practices.

MWRAG and GEGE therefore call for urgent and coordinated action from government, development partners, and civil society to enforce existing laws, protect affected communities, and invest in gender-responsive solutions. This includes strengthening monitoring of mining activities, providing safe and accessible water sources, promoting affordable mercury-free technologies, and supporting women-led advocacy initiatives that ensure affected communities are heard and protected, as the health, rights, and futures of women and their families in Masvingo continue to be jeopardized by unchecked environmental contamination.