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Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter
The Mines and Mining Development Ministry’s permanent secretary should not chair the Mining Affairs Board given his or her other role as overser of operations of the ministry, legislators have said.
The recommendation was made in the National Assembly on Thursday during the Second Reading Stage of the Mines and Mining Amendment Bill. Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy chaired by Norton MP (Independent) Mr Temba Mliswa said the provision in the Bill allowing the permanent secretary to chair the Mining Affairs Board was not prudent.
He said during public hearings by the committee, it emerged that the majority did not want the Secretary for Mines to chair the board.
“The fear was that permanent secretary will undertake multiple roles: that of advisory, of oversight and implementation. The views of the people were that this should be an independent board which makes recommendations which can either be adopted or rejected by the secretary,” read the committee report presented by Mr Mliswa.
“This issue was very emotive and the committee observed that this was caused by negative public perceptions on the incumbent office holder, Prof (Francis) Gudyanga at the time.
“During the January 2018 consultative meeting, the committee decided to shelve its position on this matter and referred it to the Attorney-General, in light to the Public Entities Bill gazetted in 2017, which has a provision barring permanent secretaries from chairing any boards.”
He said some of the shortcomings raised about the board included imbalance between Government officials and non-Government officials.
“The section clearly outlines that there would be six non-government officials, however, the number of Government representatives is unclear.
“The provision merely states that all principal directors from the ministry shall sit on the board. Nobody knows how many principal directors are in the ministry or whether they all add value to the operations of the board.
“Secondly, the provision allows for the appointment of two other officials from the ministry chosen at the discretion of the minister. It is not clear what knowledge or skills these persons will bring or why it is difficult for the minister to clearly identify these persons given that he/she is overall in charge of the ministry.
“Other areas of concern raised during public hearings was that the Secretary for Mines should not hold the post of the Cadastre Registrar.
“Concern was raised that the Secretary for Mines is being asked to take on too many responsibilities. In terms of good corporate governance, it is the committee’s position that it would be inappropriate to accord the secretary with too many responsibilities.
“During the January 2018, consultation meeting, the ministry agreed to amend this provision and to delegate the responsibilities to someone else other than the Secretary for Mines,” said Mr Mliswa.
Minister of Mines and Mining Development Winston Chitando is expected to respond to the concerns next week when debate resumes.
Earlier on, Minister Chitando, in his Second Reading speech, said the Bill would provide for a strong and efficient decision-making and dispute resolution mechanism.
He said there would be minimal land use conflict between miners and farmers owing to the computerised mining cadastre system.
The cadastre system is a computerised database containing comprehensive information on mining rights, titles and helps in curbing double allocation of claims.
“The proposed computerised mining cadastre system is expected to boost investor confidence through the improved title management in the sector.
“The growth of the mining sector is anchored on intensive exploration programmes which are critical for the discovering of mineral deposits and generation of geo-scientific data that can be used in various land use planning processes,” said Minister Chitando.
Online Reporter