Drop ‘pie in the sky’ to communities

Limukani Ncube
THE idea of Community Share Ownership Trust Schemes came about after the realisation that while the country was blessed with abundant natural resources, little, if no, development was taking place in areas where natural resources were harvested. In short, to communities around mining, conservancy and forestry farming areas among other big money-making ventures, whatever business was being done by local and multinational companies was mere plundering of resources. Plundering in the sense that whatever came off the ground, nothing was benefiting the local communities and lucky ones were made to scrounge for crumbs as it were.

That explains why there is little development in Matabeleland South despite huge gold deposits, among other precious stones like diamonds found in Beitbridge. Gwanda still remains a relatively small town, being given some activity by mostly civil servants and gold panners, widely known as omakorokoza, yet there are a number of mines around the town, which have been making money since time immemorial, but nothing has been channelled towards the improvement of the town and the people in general of the area.

You can talk of Filabusi, which remains more of a growth point, with nothing much to talk about in terms of infrastructural development, yet there are a number of mines around the centre, and again, the place comes alive because of omakorokoza.

You move to Matabeleland North where there are vast traces of forestry, yet schools there have to do without furniture in classrooms and you then realise that the Community Share Ownership Trust Scheme is what the doctor ordered to address the misfortunes brought about by colonialism and a deliberate ploy to incapacitate locals by the Rhodesian government.

Guided by the enabling legislation as detailed in the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, the starting point was the mining sector that committed to cede 10 percent ownership of their companies to local communities. Formation of Community Share Trusts was commended as a noble idea that had the potential to empower communities. Such trusts were set up in almost all provinces in the country, but there are a few communities that seem to be benefiting.

There seems to be little movement in the right direction, as some companies are still trying to use all tricks in the book to derail people’s empowerment. Cabinet Minister and Umguza Member of House of Assembly Dr Obert Mpofu has lambasted companies for not ploughing back to communities they operate in.

“It is sad that whilst electricity is generated here, most of our schools in the district do not have power. All the coal that is used nationally comes from right here in Hwange, but we are not benefiting anything, which is quite sad…There are a lot of animals that are kept in safaris here with companies making a lot of profit through game ranching, but locals get nothing in return. It is painful because at the end of the day we are the ones who carry bags of groceries to bring to our parents to avert starvation although they have their own resources…

“We have many companies, safaris and mines in Hwange, but if you ask them, they don’t do anything for the chiefs. It’s only when a chief dies that you see them bringing pieces of meat for the mourners,” he was quoted as saying by a local weekly at the burial of Chief Mvuthu at the weekend.
The community scheme was launched in various places like Mashonaland West, Manicaland, Midlands, Masvingo, Matabeleland South and North as well as Mashonaland Central, but the picture in Matabeleland North can be replicated in most parts of the country, and all what was promised to the populace remains a pie in the sky, crying out loud for policy makers to make sure that government policies are implemented.

There are some companies that are still dragging their feet like Vumbachikwe in Gwanda, which insists that the policy should be revisited, while other companies in the province like Blanket Mine, Farvic, Jessie Mine and PPC have committed to contributing to the Gwanda Community Trust. In fact, PPC, which also operates in Matabeleland North, donated $1 million which was used in Matabeleland North’s Umguza to buy a borehole drilling machine and truck to benefit villagers.

While most mining companies say they are involved in corporate social responsibility programmes one way or the other, the country was taken aback in recent weeks when hearing news that rich diamond mining companies in Chiadzwa were not playing ball, despite the launch of the trust in their areas. Former Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Cde Saviour Kasukuwere accused the companies of being dishonest and disrespectful of the community they are operating in saying they must honour the $10 million pledges they made to the Marange Community Share Trust instead of trying to disown the Trust.

Responding to claims by the companies that they were not aware of the existence of the Marange-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Trust that was launched by President Mugabe on 27 July 2012, Cde Kasukuwere accused the companies of dishonesty saying the trust was formed with the involvement of various ministries and the respective mining companies.

The companies — Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, Jinan and Diamond Mining Company — denied the existence of the trust when they appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment chaired by Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Cde Justice Wadyajena (Zanu-PF) recently.

Nonetheless, the people in those areas and the country at large expect returns from diamond mining, bearing in mind that the key objective of the Community Share Ownership Schemes is to ensure that communities benefit from the exploitation of natural resources in their immediate environments.

The whole plan, if implemented successfully, will ease pressure on the national budget as construction of schools, clinics, dams, boreholes, irrigation schemes and numerous community projects to change people’s lives can be financed by the trusts.

Development practitioner and tutor at the Zimbabwe Open University Enock Musara attributed the retardation of rural development, in spite of efforts by Government and NGOs, to numerous factors; chief among them misplaced priorities and the top-down approach to development.
“A number of projects that have been initiated in rural areas in the name of development have failed and that is no secret. The major reason for this kind of a scenario is that most of these development programmes are initiated from the top without prior consultation with the intended beneficiaries. This can be referred to as top-downism approach. The result of such an approach is that some of the development projects may not adequately address the immediate needs of the people. In such a case the development programme would have failed,” he told a local weekly.
The community schemes were thus expected to close that loophole as community leaders who know the needs and wants of their people are part of the management of the trusts. There has been no other policy to involve communities in issues to do with development which has been better placed as the share ownership scheme which leans heavily on indigenisation. More so, it can be argued that indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes are the only viable vehicle to achieving sustainable national development.

According to the Zanu-PF election manifesto, which charmed Zimbabweans resulting in the resounding victory, there are four pillars of the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme which are the founding ideology, the law, the policy and the beneficiaries. The ideology is concerned with the need for indigenous blacks to exercise total independence and sovereignty over their resources while the law looks at enabling legislation and relevant clauses of the constitution and beneficiaries are the communities that derive benefits from the programme.

“There is no alternative. Therefore Zanu-PF will unapologetically intensify the implementation of this programme over the next five years in order to meet the goals of the people.” Opportunities arising from economic empowerment have widened and deepened since independence as a direct result of Zanu-PF’s “pro-people policies such as the hugely successful land reform programme which is now widely acknowledged as a major source of economic prosperity for the country,” reads part of the manifesto.

As argued by Benard Bwoni in one of his blogs, “Zimbabwe is pursuing a very noble and authentic people-oriented policies with that bonafide raison d’être to the new social foundation and economic essence. The proven remedy for runners’ block is to keep running and break through that brick barrier. The economic empowerment and indigenisation drive can only be stepped up and stamped with that proud and patriotic seal of finality.”

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa when presenting the 2014 national budget said; “I reaffirm that the indigenisation laws are here to stay and there will be no amendment to dilute or annul the indigenisation law…. Confusion on indigenisation policy seems to be emanating from different interpretations by policy makers, which interpretations have negatively impacted on the implementation process.”

With no changes to indigenisation and economic empowerment laws and policies, communities can only pray that the pie in the sky will drop anytime soon for them to eat, drink and be merry.