MHONDORO Ngezi and Bindura communities have not yet attained their 10% shareholding at mining firms in their areas due to the snail’s pace at which government is said to be taking to approve them.
VENERANDA LANGA
This was disclosed before the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment chaired by Zanu PF Senator for Harare Metropolitan province Cleveria Chizema.
Members of the committee were not impressed with the slow pace which had taken more than six months, saying this was disadvantaging the communities.
The Bindura Community Share Ownership Trust (CSOT) is supposed to get 10% shareholding in Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, while the Mhondoro Ngezi CSOT is supposed to get its 10% shareholding from Zimplats.
However, Chief Zvimba (born Stanley Wurayayi Mhondoro) told the committee that Zimplats put $10 million into the Mhondoro Ngezi Chegutu CSOT which would be shared by three districts of Mhondoro, Ngezi and Chegutu.
He said the CSOT was facing serious challenges with secretive mining companies operating in the area which did not want to comply with the requirements to give seed capital for community development projects. “We do not have 10% shareholding at Zimplats which is still working out the legal modalities of having that shareholding operating within the deed,” Chief Zvimba said.
“We have challenges of failure to comply with the requirements to give seed capital to CSOTs by some clandestine small mining companies in Mhondoro, Ngezi and Chegutu.”
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Chief Zvimba said one of the mining companies was Pan-African Mines, adding whenever the CSOT tried to exert pressure to force them to comply they always threatened to leave the area.
Bindura CSOT secretary Savvie Munoriarwa said they were facing challenges in that project funds had not been released into the trust account pending signing of agreements with the qualifying business partner to formalise the funding arrangements.
Munoriarwa said $1 million was the amount pledged by Freda Rebecca Gold Mine in 2013 and it was used on community projects like health, education, water and sanitation, and roads.
Both CSOTs claimed the amounts deposited by the mines were used for developmental projects and that a means assessment was done before decisions on what projects should be embarked on were made.
They claimed their tender procedures were fair, adding they got their raw materials mostly from local companies.
