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Oliver Kazunga recently in Mberengwa.
KUVIMBA Mining House (KMH) says it is committed to bringing rapid development and uplifting the living standards of people in Mberengwa, Midlands Province, following the re-opening of Sandawana Mines with US$110 million already set aside for road maintenance works in the province.
Sandawana, which has a history dating back to 1955 and has exchanged ownership over the years when emeralds were first extracted at the mine, is being resuscitated as a lithium and tantalite operation by KMH which took over the asset in 2019.
Since the acquisition of Sandawana Mines by KMH in 2019, a cumulative US$56 million has been injected towards revamping and transforming the mine into a world-class high-grade lithium operation.
The re-opening of Sandawana Mines in January this year has seen 1 500 people being employed including by contractors.
The company plans to undertake a number of projects that include infrastructure development namely road rehabilitation, 60MW solar power plant as well as construction and rehabilitation of health facilities and schools.
Speaking in an interview after a stakeholder engagement that included 15 Chiefs from Mberengwa District, villagers and Sandawana employees, among others held at the mine on Sunday, Sandawana Mines general manager, Mr Godwin Gambiza said: “Going into the future we look forward to having these meetings probably on the quarterly or half-yearly basis just to make sure that we strengthen our ties with the local leadership.
“Other than engaging them on a quarterly or half-yearly basis, we also target to expand this to also look at other Government departments and agencies meeting them as a group. Our approach is going to be all-encompassing, we will be able to hear their concerns.”
At the stakeholder engagement, Mr Gambiza said they have noted a number of takeaways and they will sit down as a company to come up with resolutions.
“We might then rank them and see how we can start to implement those resolutions. From what we heard, some are short term while others are medium-to-long term.
“Like we have indicated before, some of the projects that we are undertaking include the US$110 million road rehabilitation and maintenance and a 60MW solar power plant projects (funded) to the tune of US$110MW. Feasibility studies for the power plant are already underway,” he said.
Some of the traditional leaders that attended the stakeholder engagement include Chief Ngungumbane, a senator who serves in the Chiefs Council and is also chairperson of the Midlands Provincial Assembly, Chief Mahlebadza, Chief Bvute, Chief Mposi, Chief Maziofa, Chief Chingoma, Chief Mapiravana, and Chief Mudavanhu.
Speaking at the stakeholder engagement, Sen Chief Ngungumbane acknowledged the role being played by the mining company to revive the mine, which before the acquisition by KMH had operations suspended for nearly a decade.
“For the past four years that you have been on the ground, we are witnessing jobs being given to the locals, roads are also going to be tarred from here (Sandawana) to West Nicholson.
“But my plea as chief, representing the communities in Mberengwa District to the investor, is that while your trucks also use other routes within the district, we look forward to seeing all your routes being tarred,” he said.
Sandawana Mines re-opened in January this year, having been defunct since 2010 when production was suspended due to working capital constraints and a reduction in emerald resource deposits.
Sandawana is also rich in other minerals that include copper and gold, among others.
“As the mine is developed, villagers at Sandawana and the surrounding communities should brace for development-induced displacement and as that happens, we expect Kuvimba to come up with a (mine) development-induced displacement policy,” said Sen Chief Ngungumbane.
Through such a policy, he said the investor should be able to compensate and relocate the affected families within the mining vicinity to better areas where there is limited noise pollution and environmental pollution.
“We also expect that Sandawana Mine School and homesteads currently in the mine will be relocated from the existing locations to a better area.
“As the investor relocates and constructs new homes and the school, we expect that the ideal model homes will be constructed.
“It has happened elsewhere in Marange, Manicaland that when people were relocated to pave the way for mining operations by one of the diamond companies, there was poor workmanship of the residential infrastructure by that company.
“Under your rapid development programme, we expect that the investor will develop social amenities that include schools, health and recreational facilities.
“We are also appealing to Kuvimba to transform Mberengwa into a town status where amenities such retailers and banks can be attracted in the district and curb the current situation where your employees and people in general have to travel to Zvishavane to buy groceries and access other basic services,” he said.
Sen Chief Ngungmbane challenged KMH to prioritise the Government’s devolution agenda whose tenets are premised on leaving no one and no place.
“While we acknowledge the strides that the company has made in employing the locals, as traditional leaders we are saying the investor should source its goods and services from local suppliers.
“Where specialist services are not available locally, that’s when we expect the investor to procure from suppliers elsewhere across the country,” he said.
The traditional leader said it was also one of their great expectations that KMH would build, own and operate a solar power plant that will supply electricity to Sandawana Mine and the surrounding communities.
“So far as a company you are drawing water from the existing Wanezi Dam, we look forward to seeing you rehabilitating that dam as well as investing in a new dam or dams as well as providing your workforce with decent accommodation with tapped water and electrification.
“It is also our appeal that the investor will prioritise drilling boreholes across the whole district because at the moment due to issues of climate change, and that the district falls under the natural regions 4 and 5, which are dry, water has become a threat to national security.”
Sen Chief Ngungumbane noted that KMH, as a Zimbabwean company, and despite the Government repealing the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, the investor should prioritise empowering the villagers by awarding them syndicated lithium tributaries.
“It’s noble that you are giving them jobs, but also giving them mining claims to extract lithium under the tributary arrangement.
“But as traditional leaders in the district representing the communities, we are also making a clarion call that Kuvimba empowers the villagers through syndicated tributaries,” he said.
KMH group chief executive officer Mr Simba Chinyemba said his organisation through Sandawana Mines envisaged fostering economic development and growth by uplifting the living standards of the local communities.
“The event today is a watershed moment for us as Kuvimba and the community in Mberengwa at large.
“This engagement is the first and not the last one, but this is the first for us and the first of many engagements that we will do because we value community engagement.
“We came here to listen to your concerns and expectations from us and we have put this down and see how these can be addressed.
“Some of the concerns and expectations that have been addressed here cannot be addressed within a year, but as we move forward you will see them being addressed, and as KMH, we are accountable to you so we shall be coming with feedback.
“We have also adopted a protocol where 20 percent of our workforce should be women and if you compare that with national and global statistics, you actually find that there is very little representation of women in the extractive sector.
“But you would find that here at Sandawana, we are way above the global average in terms of female representation,” he said.
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