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By Alex Bitekeye
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. The Singida East MP (Chadema), Mr Tundu Lissu, yesterday condemned alleged police brutality during an operation to evict small-scale miners at Taru Village last Friday. Mr Lissu told journalists at a press conference in Dar es Salaam that the eviction was inhuman, claiming that about 10 people are still missing as a result of last week’s saga.He said that the Energy and Minerals minister, Mr William Ngeleja, had promised the villagers when they paid him a courtesy visit at the Parliament that they would be allowed to conduct their activities at the area.
“They (miners) decided to return to the area which was illegally taken by the Shanta Gold Mining Company in 2004, because the villagers were not consulted at all contrary to mining and land Acts,” said Mr Lissu.
But Mr Ngeleja, contested Mr Lissu’s accusations, noting that an investor has already started to develop a mine at the site.“On December 19, last year, we gave the artisanal miners three different areas out of Taru Village, which is legally owned by Shanta Mining Company,” said Mr Ngeleja, naming the areas as Sambaru, Mang’onyi and Mlumbi.
“This was done after a thorough consultation with the company and the district peace and security council, which also led the exercise in the said areas,” he said.Mr Lissu asked the minister to fulfill the promise he made to representatives of the villagers late last year in Dodoma.
“I also take this opportunity to ask the police to be responsible for Tanzanians instead of foreigners,” he said.The MP said the company was given a gold exploration permission which lasts for three years and which can only be renewed twice. “Basing on that fact, the company now operates illegally, because it has been in the country since 2004,” he said.
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