The Chiadzwa community has called upon government to include them in decision-making processes whenever mineral exploration is taking place.
A programmes officer with the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust, Melanie Chiponda, told government officials and miners during the official launch of the Zimbabwe Mining Revenue Transparency (ZMRT) initiative last week that people in mining communities had a right to that information because they were affected by relocations.
The launch of the ZMRT was held in Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe’s offices with a view to promoting accountability and transparency in the mining industry, as well as disclosure of mining contracts.
“Communities should be included in decisions on mining exploration in their areas so that they can be prepared for how this is going to affect them and so that they know that in a year or so they might have to be relocated to another place,” said Chiponda.
“People should also know for how long those mining activities are going to take place and even be advised if there is any possibility for them to go back to where they were before after completion of the mining operations.”
Chiponda said policies should be put in place to protect mining communities and mining revenues disclosed to them to enable them to negotiate wisely whenever they discussed relocation packages because a lot of the affected communities were given “peanuts” as compensation after relocation.
