
The rise of Shadaya the ‘Iron Lady’ of gold mining in Manicaland
July 29, 2025Church umbrella body ZHOCD initiates programme to complement government devolution process

The ZHOCD members and stakeholders that attended the engagement meeting held in Mutare with the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Hon Advocate Misheck Mugadza.
Ngoni Dapira
THE church should advocate for effective devolution by promoting civic education, encouraging community participation and holding leaders accountable, a senior cleric in Manicaland has said
Reverend Edward Tswamuno the Manicaland chairman of the Zimbabwe Heads of Church Denominations (ZHOCD) said this during a recently held engagement meeting on devolution with the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Honourable Advocate Misheck Mugadza. ZHOCD is a consortium of faith based organisations which include Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) and the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, represented by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) Mutare.

ZHOCD Manicaland chairman Rev Tswamuno
Rev Tswamuno said every community member has a role to play in the devolution process to make it successful. He said as ZHOCD they are advocating for devolution that empowers local participation and addresses unique community needs.
“It should be a priority and common good that our people live in peace and prosperity. The Lord wants each and every one of us to live a good life, so our purpose of being as ZHOCD is that we work together with government to ensure that our people live a good life under devolution which is in the process of being fulfilled. We want resources to be distributed taking into consideration the principle of the common good so that everyone benefits and lives a decent and good life,” he said.
ZHOCD Manicaland executive member Father Tarzan Nyanga in his outline of their objectives said the church’s prophetic role is crucial in ensuring that the current devolution process leads to meaningful development. He said when built theologically the devolution process in Zimbabwe will create opportunities to advance justice, community engagement and responsible stewardship.

Father Nyanga
“However realizing these ideals requires overcoming challenges such as political resistance, corruption and resource limitations to ensure genuine implementation of devolution principles,” said Father Nyanga as he explained the functions of the umbrella body.
He added that the bible speaks of stewardship of natural resources which embraces responsible resource management. Father Nyanga urged the resident Minister and his Office to enhance local stewardship of resources in the devolution process, ensuring that they are used for community benefit. Speaking on accountability Father Nyanga said local leaders should be accountable to their communities by accounting for their actions and exercising their power justly.
ZHOCD said it currently has structures in Nyanga, Mutare and Mutasa. However, Rev Tswamuno said they aim to soon create official structures which will cascade to all districts and wards in the province. He said they intend to come up with an action plan on the devolution process on how the church can work hand in glove with government to steer meaningful development which is people oriented.
“This project is being implemented to complement government efforts to promote the devolution and decentralization framework. The core values of ZHOCD are love, peace, transparency and accountability. God is love and loves everyone, whilst the second value of peace, the word of God says blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the children of God, so peace is prerequisite to meaningful development. The third one of transparency is clear, we need to open up to the people as leaders and the fourth one of accountability, which means reporting back to the people we serve informing them about how resources are being distributed. These are our core values,” said the ZHOCD Manicaland chairman.
In a report by the Nyanga coordinator Pastor Alois Makaka it was revealed that in 2024 Nyanga District lost over 3930 hectares of timber plantations and forests to veld fires, which amounts to over US$5 million lost in infrastructure and timber.

Pastor Makaka
“The fires were caused by poachers and arson by disgruntled workers. We failed to mitigate because the regulatory authority EMA (Environmental Management Agency) is under resourced. Nyanga despite having many plantations sadly had no fire tenders until the recent donation by government to the local authority which we applause. But still the challenge is that there is no fire department yet to run the fire tenders, so this needs to be prioritized,” he said.
Pastor Makaka added that in Nyanga, motorized graders cannot navigate the mountainous terrains so they appealed to government for aerial firefighting through drones and helicopters. “The timber from Nyanga benefits the whole country so this is a critical appeal which we have since made to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) through our Members of Parliament,” he said.

Mugove Mandimutsira
The Mutasa coordinator Mugove Mandimutsira said their duty bearers in the district are bringing in reports on developmental concerns needed in their respective communities and they are grateful that government has of late been responding swiftly to their appeals. He cited recent interventions on the Penhalonga Bridge which was fixed in record time after it had collapsed and the Nyamukwarara clinic which was upgraded after neglect for many years despite serving many surrounding villages in the area.
A Penhalonga community member Westone Makoni appealed for the expansion and tarring of the main St Augastine’s road into Penhalonga and other main roads in Tsvingwe to cater for the increase in traffic volumes. He also talked about water pollution of Mutare River which needs immediate intervention due to the increasing gold mining activities by artisanal miners.
Makoni added that in Penhalonga there are no public toilets but the residential area now has over 3000 residents, which is a ticking time bomb given the increasing gold mining activities in the area.
A lady from Penhalonga spoke about the need for a police sub office in Penhalonga. She said this will assist in quick interventions on cases of assault, public violence and gender based violence which are increasing in the community due to the influx of artisanal miners who are often rowdy by nature.
Representing Minister Mugadza, the Director Provincial Coordination in the office of the Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Joseph Mashingaidze said it is important for civic society organizations (CSOs) and church organizations to understand the role of government and work together with government apolitically for nation building.

Joseph Mashingaidze
“Before we speak badly about our political leadership or governance issues, let us first really understand how government works. This has been the thorny problem when it comes to CSOs and government relations, but we are glad about initiatives such as this one by ZHOCD that wants a cordial working relationship to ensure that the devolution process works for the development of our nation and the good wellbeing of everyone. The Constitution of Zimbabwe’s preamble says Zimbabwe is a unitary State, which means we need to respect our President, so we must all understand this no matter what,” said Mashingaidze.
Speaking on arson cases in plantations, Mashingaidze urged CSOs to match their statistical data with government statistics, but agreed that the issue of arson in plantations is now worrisome. He said Zimbabwe might begin to import timber in the next few years if there is no quick intervention.
“We are glad as CSOs and church organistations you want to work with government on the devolution process. These are the home grown solutions we are also looking for as government to develop our country,” said Mashingaidze.
On road infrastructure development Mashingaidze said government is overwhelmed following the destruction of roads by the heavy rains last year, but underscored that road rehabilitation remains government’s top priority. On river bed mining he said government banned this, but it’s now a matter of law enforcement which also needs community involvement by whistle blowing cases where river bed mining is being practiced.
“On the issue of a police sub office in Penhalonga I want to encourage you the community members to write a formal letter citing the need for this. I am sure this can be easily dealt with from the reasons you cited and given that our resident Minister is also the MP (Member of Parliament) for Mutasa South which includes Penhalonga, that matter can be attended to quickly,” said Mashingaidze.