Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube , Victoria Falls Reporter
HE may have left formal education at Form Four after failing his final examinations, but that did not stop Mr Brighton Mwatsikasimbe (35) of Hwange from designing a mechanised brick moulding machine.
While education is crucial and key to skills development, for Mr Mwatsikasimbe one does not need formal classroom lectures to learn the art of life.
Generally, it takes a minimum of four years to attain a tertiary qualification but Mr Mwatsikasimbe only needed to work as a machine operator at four mining companies to be his own master.
His tale dovetails with the Second Republic National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and Vision 2030 drive to capacitate youths with skills to start their own business than to yearn to be employed.
Mr Mwatsikasimbe wrote and failed his Ordinary Level exams in 2004 at Lukosi Secondary School in Hwange before getting a job at South Mining. He also worked for WK, Macatoo, Zimplats and J R Goddard as a dump truck operator.
His desire to be an employer and to make an impact in his community drove him to think beyond the job and invent the machine.
A news crew caught up with Mr Mwatsikasimbe at the just ended Matabeleland North Agricultural Show where he was showcasing his brick moulding machine for the first time after finishing designing it last year.
He built the machine using scrap metal and fitted a 2-Lister Piston engine that he bought.
The diesel-powered machine makes 32 standard size bricks per minute or 1 900 per hour on average feed.
He said he uses the machine for an average six hours a day and makes 7 000 bricks, providing a ready supply for housing projects in Hwange and Victoria Falls where he sells his products.
From a distance, one might mistake the machine for a grinding mill but a closer look will show a brick moulder.
After manually mixing the mortar, one feeds it into the inlet tray and a small conveyor belt leads it into the machine where it is compressed before a neatly flattened boulder comes out and is deposited onto a tray at the outlet.
On one side of the tray are sharp blades that are adjusted into the required brick size, and five or six bricks are released into a tray which is carried manually and deposited on the ground.
Mr Mwatsikasimbe said he invented the machine from scratch.
“It is more like I invented it from scratch. I was inspired by the machinery I had been operating and after seeing a brick moulding machine at a Chinese company that makes bricks for Zimbabwe Power Company here in Hwange, I started thinking of doing the same. I bought a second-hand engine and modified it and started gathering scrap metal. That is how I designed this machine,” he said.
The machine is mobile and can be towed to any place for work.
Mr Mwatsikasimbe said he has been using the machine for the past four months.
His major challenges are limited supply of coal and coal dust which are key inputs in the brick making business.
He buys them from Hwange Colliery Company. A tonne of coal costs US$65 while coal dust is US$30 per tonne. He hires a truck to carry the inputs and also to pull the machine to the site.
Coal dust is mixed with clay soil to make mortar that is fed into the machine to make bricks while coal is used to burn the bricks in an oven for good quality.
His invention has charmed Hwange Rural District Council (HRDC) and the local authority is keen on helping him.
“We are aware of his innovation and we are going to assist him with land to operate from as well as to access funding although this is not the duty of the council. He should also look for funding through various Government loan facilities providers. We will also engage mining companies so that he gets coal to use in his business,” said HRDC chief executive Mr Phindile Ncube.
Hwange town and its environs have challenges of illegal brick moulders along a small sewer stream that passes through Empumalanga and the water treatment plant.
Illegal brick moulding poses a threat to the environment and people’s health as people use sewer water and also dig on a wetland as well as near houses.
Some roads that lead to a new suburb built by Zimbabwe Power Company east of Empumalanga have been literally barricaded as the illegal brick moulders have dug along the stream leaving no proper crossing places.
An area near Truck Stop administered by Hwange Colliery Company is also severely degraded.
He is yet to formally register his business but has four helping hands.
Hwange District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) Secretary for Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Cde Alphas Dube has been helping Mr Mwatsikasimbe to get tenders.
He said efforts are being made to help him access funding through some Government loans.
“We have engaged other stakeholders especially Hwange Colliery as the company wants to work with people who do legal brick moulding to fight illegal activities. We hope he gets a tender to provide bricks for construction of 2 000 housing stands in Empumalanga suburb hence we are assisting him to be compliant with every legal procedure,” said Cde Dube.
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Richard Moyo visited the stand where the machine was being exhibited last Friday and said such innovation requires support from Government. – @ncubeleon.
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