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Stakeholders in the Gwayi conservancy area are against the extraction of coal in the area, as they feel the development would disturb wildlife activities and destroy the tourism sector.
They also feel the new coalmines would pollute the Gwayi-Shangani Dam water and cripple the completion of the project.
However, in his address during the commissioning of mining equipment for small-scale miners in Umguza on Wednesday, Dr Mpofu scoffed at the stakeholders’ concerns, saying investment in mining takes precedence over everything.
“We always hear of meetings of people at Halfway who want to oppose the establishment of new mines. They want to block development ngoba bafuna ukuzingela ibhalabhala nje (they just want to hunt kudus). What they need to know is that mining takes precedence over everything,” said Dr Mpofu.
“MaDlamini,” he said referring to Matabeleland North Provincial Administrator Ms Latiso Dlamini, “Can you tell these people to stop that. We want people to work here but they spent a lot of time doing nothing only to oppose development. We will tell the police to arrest them. They are reactionaries who are anti-development. Here we are talking of mining companies that should create jobs for hundreds of our people.”
Dr Mpofu said the people in the Gwayi Conservancy have always been negative about development in the region and accused them of abusing their authority.
“Their meetings have always been negative about development in the region. They are abusing these platforms to pursue narrow selfish interests. As a ministry we are worried about such organisations that seem not to be forward looking,” said Dr Mpofu.
“Last year we approved about 18 special mining grants in Matabeleland but some of them cannot start because of the threats from these people. The country’s economy is hinged on mining and that thrust should not be derailed by anyone,” he said.
Turning to diamond mining, Dr Mpofu said Zimbabwe has complied with the conditions of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
He said the country would participate in the KPCS summit in the United States next month where it would support a majority view in defending the regulations on diamond trading.
Contacted for comment the chairperson for stakeholders in the Gwayi-Shangani conservancy area, Mr Langton Masunda, said Dr Mpofu’s accusations were misdirected. He said the minister needed to understand the significance of concerns raised by stakeholders.
“What we are saying is that development in Matabeleland North is not based on coal mining alone. We have other major sectors of the economy such as wildlife management and tourism and agriculture that need to be protected,” said Mr Masunda.
“As it is we have more than 70 lodges in the area, the game park and sport hunting, which are big investments that have sustained the economy for many years. Everyone knew there were coal deposits here but for conservation reasons we could not exploit it all over the place,” he said.
“The Gwayi-Shangani Dam for instance, is a major economic entity that will solve problems for the whole region. After all coal is a non-renewable resource. Can Dr Mpofu calculate the economic gains and value of coal mining compared to the tourism, wildlife and agricultural activities we have here?”
Gwayi-sub catchment committee chairperson Mr Elijah Mathe concurred with Mr Masunda.
“We are not blocking development. Everywhere water issues take the first priority. We are talking about water in this issue. What we want is just Gwayi-Shangani Dam water,” said Mr Mathe.
There has been a long-standing misunderstanding between the Government and stakeholders at the Gwayi conservancy over the establishment of new coal mining areas.
Controversy heightened last year in March last year when the Ministry of Mines granted licences to five coal mining companies in Matabeleland North.
At that time the stakeholders argued that they were not consulted and organised a series of meetings in which they resolved to engage the concerned ministries in a bid to iron the impasse.
Others said coal mining and the dam project could not co-exist and demanded that companies should first conduct environmental impact assessment to show how they would manage pollution.
The licenced companies included Makomo Investments, WK Blasting, Clidder, Apex and Liberation Mining.
Online Reporter