Mirerani residents request entry into Tanzanite enclosure

What you need to know:

For about a week ago, the residents including brokers, owners of mines, mineral buyers, women selling fruits and greens, have been prevented from entering the enclosure by cars and on motorbikes and those motorized vessels inside are not allowed to go out as well without a gate pass.


Mirerani. Residents of Mirerani Town in Simanjiro District have requested the government to allow them to pass through the main gate of the tanzanite enclosure wall so they could go to carry out their mining activities.

They said they were currently facing economic hardships individually after they were prevented from entering the walled enclosure in Manyara Region.

For about a week ago, the residents including brokers, owners of mines, mineral buyers, women selling fruits and greens, have been prevented from entering the enclosure by cars and on motorbikes and those motorized vessels inside are not allowed to go out as well without a gate pass.

A buyer of minerals in the area, Baraka Magige, when speaking to The Citizen on July 21, said he had not enter inside the tanzanite enclosure since Monday last week.

bodaboda operator, John Akhisha, said currently it was hard for them to carry passengers and enter the enclosure as they used to do after the completion of the construction of the wall launched by President John Magufuli on April 6, this year.

Zainabu Paulo, who sorts out mineral sands in mines, asked the government to look at the matter with its due weight, saying many of them were facing life hardships because they were depending on the mines to earn a living.

When asked, Mirerani Town’s mineral officer, Daudi Ntalima, declined comment on the issue, but Manyara Regional Commissioner Alexander Mnyeti called upon the residents of the area to abide by the government’s directive by implementing the entry procedure.