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Midlands Bureau Chief
NEW Industry and Commerce Minister Cde Mike Bimha, has said the Government remains committed to implementing the Essar deal as well as taking care of the welfare of Ziscosteel workers during the transition.In an interview on Friday, Cde Bimha said the initial deal that came about after India Steel conglomerate, Essar Holdings bought Government’s controlling shares in Ziscosteel remained binding.
“Government remains committed to the Zisco/Essar deal. We are being guided by Cabinet on the Essar deal. I want to reaffirm Government’s commitment to fulfilling this deal. There are no negotiations on this pact. The deal still stands,” he said.
Cde Bimha, who was deputy minister in the same ministry in the last Government, said the Zanu-PF led Government was tirelessly working on injecting life into the Redcliff giant steel company through the Essar deal.
He said the welfare of Ziscosteel workers was being taken care of through a Joint Management Committee Monitoring comprised of Ziscosteel and Essar Holdings management teams.
“Things have been happening at Zisco especially with regards to the welfare of workers. We (Government) have always been involved in the staff welfare. The Government engaged Essar to help address salary and other issues affecting workers and these are being addressed, bearing in mind that Essar has not started operating.
They made a commitment to pay 50 percent of the workers’ salaries. This is money coming from their coffers,” he said.
Cde Bimha said the sticking issue of mineral rights that was cited as the major discord behind the delays in concluding the Zisco/Essar deal was now a Cabinet issue.
The friction was mainly between the Ministries of Mines and Mining Development and that of Industry and Commerce, forcing the Zisco/Essar issue to be referred to Cabinet.
Cde Bimha said the Joint Management Monitoring Committee chaired by the Office of the President was constantly looking at the Zisco issue, primarily the staff welfare side.
He said the committee’s mandate and brief was to help pay fees for workers’ children as well as taking care of their medical bills.
“We have regular briefings with the Joint Management Committee. However, these had been affected a bit by the elections, swearing in ceremonies as well as inductions.
However, by next week (this week), we would have been briefed on the Zisco situation,” said Cde Bimha.
The Redcliff-based company owed its workers over $12 million, by December last year.
Zisco, which would be renamed NewZim Steel (Pvt) Ltd once the deal has been concluded, employs more than 3 000 workers.
According to the original deal, Essar Group would take 53 percent of
New Zim Steel (former Ziscosteel-manufacturing arm) and 80 percent of New Zim Minerals (former Buchwa Iron Mining Company – mining arm) while the Government takes the remaining shares in both firms.
Former Mines and Mining Development Minister, Dr Obert Mpofu once said the deal was supposed to be revisited because Essar Group would pay only $700 million for resources worth over $30 billion.
He told a Parliamentary Committee that iron ore reserves in Mwanesi
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