The management of Vubachikwe Mine in Gwanda has vehemently denied claims that the community has been without electricity and water since an illegal strike crippled operations at the gold mine.
Mine Manager Mr None Kananji dismissed the allegations, calling them “unfortunate and unfounded.”
“We note with concern allegations and misinformation being passed around as fact to the effect that the mine has no essentials services, namely water and power ever since the illegal violent strike. This is further from the truth and a simple visit to the village and a request for information would have been enough to set the record straight,” Mr Kananji.
Mine spokesperson Robert Mukondiwa clarified that while the mine had experienced a shortage of water and power, the management had been communicating with workers about the reasons behind the outage and the steps being taken to rectify the problem.
“The mine has endured a spate of theft and vandalism especially of transformers, a situation that has also worried the power provider and we have had a number of transformers stolen and vandalised with the cases reported to law enforcement. A number of these have been replaced with a pact between Zesa and mine management to step up security around such infrastructure.
“This has in the distant past affected the pumping of water with a short-term solution put together to supply the village with water before the transformer was restored and normalcy returned. This was by no means a fault of either Zesa or mine management, but vandals and we have been putting out a series of communications to villagers to report any cases of vandalism as any theft results in no water or power for the community.
“We have had a number of interested stakeholders getting in touch with our information office and a number of people with no malicious intent or mischievous pursuit have first gotten in touch with us to find out the state of social services and those with genuine concerns have had their questions answered and their worries allayed,” said Mukondiwa.
The Vubachikwe Mine ran into trouble when a group of individuals went on a rampage, defying authorities and holding an illegal strike. The situation escalated, resulting in the destruction of property, including a school bus and a clinic meant to serve the community. Mukondiwa lamented the loss of amenities and urged individuals to exercise their right to protest peacefully.
“It is in the past and we are working towards a workout plan that will see resumption. Hopefully the lesson from this is the right to protest exists but on peaceful terms. Today we have no clinic and other services that are meant for us the workers because contrary to the rules of engagement, there was no sound thought and amenities such as the clinic were attacked which was needless,” added Mukondiwa.
“However, as with any crisis, the object is to put it behind us, reopen and focus towards returning to the table as part of the Government’s US$12 billion programme and making the President and nation’s mining as a super earner dream a reality. Soon we will be sprucing up the mine gearing for a reopening as espoused in the mine’s ‘going forward’ programme,” said Mukondiwa. – The Chronicle
