Renco Mine saga rages on

In a telephone interview, Renco Mine workers’ committee chairperson, Mr Vincent Matiza said the directors are not being honest on the state of affairs at the mine.

He said workers are demanding Government’s intervention to bring normalcy at the mine.

“The management here is talking of shutting down the mine citing the shortage of chemicals to use at the mine.

“We feel shortchanged as workers and we call upon Government to intervene because it is not true that there is no money for those consumables. They are using this issue as a scapegoat because they do not want to give workers their money,” said Mr Matiza.

Renco Mine has some of the lowest paid miners reportedly earning $180 per month.

He said the mine bosses were frustrating workers by not paying their bonuses and salaries.

“RioZim that runs the mine is fully aware that the company owes workers huge sums of money in salary increments and unpaid bonuses, but for reasons best known to them they do not want to pay.

“They are not honest when they say there is no money to buy chemicals because production has been high. We wonder where they have put all the money realised from gold that we have been producing.

“We produce close to 70kg of gold every month. It is against this background that no one will believe them when they say they are failing to procure chemicals, which cost less than half of the total monthly revenue,” he said.

Mr Matiza said villagers working in solidarity with the workers blocked a plane intending to airlift the gold produced from the mine.

“I can confirm that has happened and will continue happening as long as they do not want to pay workers their money.

“One of the reasons for blocking the transportation of gold from the mine is that the gold is not theirs in the sense that it was produced through the efforts of the workers and Chivi South MP Cde Irvin Dzingirai, who helped us procure chemicals to use during the production.

“The owners had stopped supplying us with these key consumables and we had to intervene with the help of our MP. They should not reap where they did not sow,” he said.

“The gold should be sold under the supervision of Government and the proceeds used to pay workers with the balance deposited into the Community Share Ownership                            Trust for the Chief Nyajena community.

“The solution here is simple in that the company should just pay workers and operations be allowed to continue without these unnecessary hitches. Besides, we do not want the mine to close, as we still want people to fend for their families, but first they should resolve these labour issues,” he said.

Contacted for comment, Renco Mine manager Mr Cyprian Kachisa said the mine would close, adding that the situation was dire, as electricity supplies could be cut anytime soon.

“The mine will definitely close as long as we do not have essential chemicals to use.

“The plant has already stopped and my fear is that drinking water can be contaminated very soon given the absence of purification chemicals. There is no sabotage at all because the situation at the mine is known,” said Mr Kachisa.

He said the community should understand that without selling  gold operations would be grounded.

“If the situation remains the same it means we will not have any choice, but to send workers home. We have made concerted efforts to procure the chemicals we use on daily basis, but to no avail.

“We buy them from Zimplow in Bulawayo and we have sought the assistance of MP Cde Dzingirai. As long as we do not procure the required consumables, we will resort to care and maintenance work until we get them,” he said.

“As if that is not enough, Zesa has threatened to switch us off for non-payment of tariffs. We have not been getting any revenue since we are blocked from trading the produce and that has led us to default on payment. Cde Dzingirai had approached the company asking for a grace period of up to 9 February but because we are not selling anything, we can be switched off anytime and there would a disaster. This also applies to the issue of workers’ salaries, we cannot be expected to pay when we are not allowed to sell the produce,” he                       said.

The dispute at Renco has since spilled into the courts, with RioZim seeking to bar Cdes Walter Mzembi and Dzingirai from interfering with the mine operations.

Harare High Court judge Justice Hlekani on Wednesday reserved judgment in the case.