‘Bandits’ and machete gangs: The criminalization of artisanal and small-scale mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe

Abstract

Scholars have examined the often ‘illegal’ status of artisanal and small-scale miners in Africa from a range of perspectives. Yet there is scope for further research on understandings of this ‘illegal’ character, which do not only include violations of the national legal framework for mining, but are also linked to broader (perceived) matters of criminality; miners themselves are also at times victims of ‘banditry’ and criminality. We apply a criminalization framework to analyse how artisanal miners are not only seen as ‘illegal’ for their non-state-sanctioned artisanal mining activities or for ‘trespassing’ on mining companies’ concessions – often overlooked or even tacitly accepted as legitimate in a range of contexts – but frequently also perceived as criminal as perpetrators of other infractions such as theft or violence. Drawing on case studies from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, we lay out the need to unpack the conceptual blurring between artisanal mining, and ‘criminal bands’ and actors who use violence, at theoretical and empirical levels. We argue that there is a need for additional research on the scale and scope of the phenomenon of (urban) criminality and how this phenomenon relates to (but is not reducible to), and intermingles with, artisanal small-scale mining.