AGRICULTURAL and Rural Development Authority (Arda) board chairman Basil Nyabadza has blasted the Zimunya-Marange Community Share Ownership Trust (ZMCSOT), saying it was defective as it left out several other communities in Manicaland province.
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Nyabadza said there should be one trust for the whole province where resources will be harnessed for the whole region.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting for Manicaland Business Action Group after touring distressed industries in Mutare on Friday, Nyabadza also took a swipe at the Chinese who brought their nationals to do menial jobs at their mine in Chiadzwa.
“We are told we have a community trust. We need a trust which should generate revenue for the whole province not only Zimunya and Marange but for the province.
“This is because those in Buhera and other areas could not benefit from that trust. So we need a single community trust for Manicaland which should be directed by a board with vision to empower our people,” the Arda chairman said, adding the arrangement would enable banks to open lines of credit to ordinary people to start their own business and probably help struggling businesses.
This came at a time there were allegations that since its launch last year, the trust has failed to take off the ground after mining companies that pledged funding failed to sponsor it.
Nyabadza also said the Chinese should be forced to employ people from Manicaland at their mining firm, Anjin.
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“The Chinese feel more at home in Manicaland than some of us here. That cannot be allowed to go on. We must put a stop to that. The Chinese are visitors here. We hear that they bring personnel from China to sweep and drive tractors and other machinery at their work places. That must stop,” he said.
“There is no reason why people in Sakubva cannot go and work at the mines and come back at night. We said we want to take stock of what is happening in our province. We cannot watch and be bystanders.”
Meanwhile, Manicaland Business Action Group patron and Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa has pledged to mobilise financial resources for distressed firms in the province.
