The Metal Panners
Andrew Makari's right hand holds a long bolt, with which he is striking at a corroded brown object in his other hand.
With time, one hears the clink of metal against metal – a sound that brings a smile to Makari’s weary face.
“It’s steel,” he says, knowing that a kilogramme of the metal will fetch $350 from the scrape metal dealer only a stone throw away.
Makari’s hope is not in vain for there is a lot of unpolished scrape metal lying around him – just as there are equally a lot of people with endless pieces of scrape metal surrounding them in the metal garbage lot near Olivine Industries in the Willowvale industrial area that has become their workplace.
Dumping sites in Harare can be associated with many unpleasant thoughts – rotting paper, rotting food, and dumped babies. Rusted scrape metal – and the latter has become a source of income for many residents in areas surrounding the metal dumping ground.
Steep ditches, reminiscent of those left by gold panners, now characterise the place as the fortune seekers scrounge for the metal that would cater for their basic needs.
Actually, the dump site diggers call themselves 'makorokoza'.
The metal would then be sold to the nearby Alpha Metals (Pvt) Limited – the very same company that dumped the unwanted metal at the site during the waxing days of its existence - for recycling.
Metal objects that have nor yet been recycled (called steel by the diggers) fetch $350 per kg, while the same amount of recycled chips sell at $200.
With his 150 kg collection today, Makari will be worth at least $30 000.
"It's a painful job to dig for scrape metal," says Tonderai Munemo. "But that is all we can do to earn a living."
Near the entrance is a scrawny old man, shirtless in the lukewarm afternoon and hacking at a concrete block with a hammer that weighs as much as he does. There are reinforcement rods in the block and the old man cannot afford to leave them exposed, lest he is scooped.
"I'd rather destroy this block until it is dark, than leave it in the open like this," he says.
The site is frequented by residents from surrounding suburbs like Budiriro, Glen View, Highfield, and Kambuzuma.
The scrape metal 'mine' was discovered a year ago when Alpha Metals allowed people into the dump site to scour for and resell the scrape metal to the company, which had started to recycle metal.
In fact the dump site is not as unpleasant as the phrase sounds; it is a heap of soil with chunks of metal inside that people retrieve. Some of the gum trees in the place have been uprooted.
A few women also come, some with babies on their backs. They reckon a figure of $30 000 a day is not enough, but it is money nevertheless, "and you cannot refuse money can you?"
It might be a dump site, and it might evoke unpleasant memories, but it is a gold mine for many people.
Perhaps until another metal junk pile comes along.
With time, one hears the clink of metal against metal – a sound that brings a smile to Makari’s weary face.
“It’s steel,” he says, knowing that a kilogramme of the metal will fetch $350 from the scrape metal dealer only a stone throw away.
Makari’s hope is not in vain for there is a lot of unpolished scrape metal lying around him – just as there are equally a lot of people with endless pieces of scrape metal surrounding them in the metal garbage lot near Olivine Industries in the Willowvale industrial area that has become their workplace.
Dumping sites in Harare can be associated with many unpleasant thoughts – rotting paper, rotting food, and dumped babies. Rusted scrape metal – and the latter has become a source of income for many residents in areas surrounding the metal dumping ground.
Steep ditches, reminiscent of those left by gold panners, now characterise the place as the fortune seekers scrounge for the metal that would cater for their basic needs.
Actually, the dump site diggers call themselves 'makorokoza'.
The metal would then be sold to the nearby Alpha Metals (Pvt) Limited – the very same company that dumped the unwanted metal at the site during the waxing days of its existence - for recycling.
Metal objects that have nor yet been recycled (called steel by the diggers) fetch $350 per kg, while the same amount of recycled chips sell at $200.
With his 150 kg collection today, Makari will be worth at least $30 000.
"It's a painful job to dig for scrape metal," says Tonderai Munemo. "But that is all we can do to earn a living."
Near the entrance is a scrawny old man, shirtless in the lukewarm afternoon and hacking at a concrete block with a hammer that weighs as much as he does. There are reinforcement rods in the block and the old man cannot afford to leave them exposed, lest he is scooped.
"I'd rather destroy this block until it is dark, than leave it in the open like this," he says.
The site is frequented by residents from surrounding suburbs like Budiriro, Glen View, Highfield, and Kambuzuma.
The scrape metal 'mine' was discovered a year ago when Alpha Metals allowed people into the dump site to scour for and resell the scrape metal to the company, which had started to recycle metal.
In fact the dump site is not as unpleasant as the phrase sounds; it is a heap of soil with chunks of metal inside that people retrieve. Some of the gum trees in the place have been uprooted.
A few women also come, some with babies on their backs. They reckon a figure of $30 000 a day is not enough, but it is money nevertheless, "and you cannot refuse money can you?"
It might be a dump site, and it might evoke unpleasant memories, but it is a gold mine for many people.
Perhaps until another metal junk pile comes along.
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