The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy will present its report on the Shabanie Mashaba Mines (SMM) saga when Parliament resumes sitting in a fortnight.
Chairman of the committee who is also the MP for Guruve South, Edward Chindori-Chininga told a delegation of representatives of several non-governmental organisations from Africa that the committee had carried investigations on the demise of SMM, as well as activities at Chiadzwa diamond fields.
He said their findings would be released to Parliament on July 12.
“The Mines and Energy Committee has played a pivotal role in its oversight function on the issue of mining in this country and will, in a fortnight, present a report in the House of Assembly on the SMM issue,” said Chindori Chininga.
“Although the committee has conducted investigations on the mining of asbestos and diamonds, these are not the only mining areas that we are going to investigate because very soon we will embark on investigations of other mining sectors like chrome, gold, platinum and other minerals in the country,” he said.
SMM, acquired by businessman Mutumwa Mawere in 1996, is at the centre of a fierce ownership wrangle, pitting him against the government led by Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa.
The company was taken over by the government in 2004, placed under curatorship and Mawere specified. The businessman had been accused of externalising funds.
He was however de-specified last year, but Chinamasa and other senior Zanu PF government officials are reportedly fighting to keep him at bay.
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Experts believe the mine still has 17 years of proven asbestos resources underground and is capable of producing over 70 million tonnes of fibre a year.
However, due to the ownership wrangle, SMM recorded a loss of $18, 6 million last year.
The crisis has led to the impoverishment of almost the entire Zvishavane community as the company was the biggest employer in the town.
