This app will facilitate the access to labour and environmental laws for the mine workers and affected rural communities in Zimbabwe, a network of online mobile hubs would be managed by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA).
Zimbabwe has 15 known valuable minerals, which include gold, diamonds and platinum. As one can imagine there is a big industry around mining. A lot of these mines are located in rural communities, where vulnerable people live, who don’t have access to legal rights when it comes to confrontations with the mining corporations. Just one example of this is water pollution, where the mines pollute the water which the local people and their livestock use for drinking.
While ZETA does what it can to educate the rural communities about environmental law and their legal rights, this app will allow the community to use the mobile app to report and monitor the abuses in their areas.
The app will also enable the communities to discuss the issues they are having with other users to have been though similar issues. Also, ZETA can give the people on the ground feedback about their issues, so that the community members don’t feel that their issue has just ended up in the bin.
The app is planning on implementing a knowledgebase which will have all the laws that are applicable to environmental and labour matters.
With the use of geo-coordinates and user captured data it will allow ZETA to get a holistic picture of the environmental transgressions per area, which will help them engage with the mining companies before the issues get out of hand.
Darlington Muyambwa presented the application prospect at the Hiil Innovating Justice Boostcamp in Johannesburg last month, they were one of the seven finalists.
You can contact Darlington on email at darlington@zela.org.
