SMM workers send SOS to President

President Mugabe to intervene, accusing management of not being sensitive to their plight.
Mine workers said this during a public hearing by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy here on Monday.
Government-appointed administrator Mr Afaras Gwaradzimba and his management were conspicuous by their absence and reportedly locked the hall where the meeting was supposed to be held.
“Since 2009, up to date we have not been paid. Our children are being chased away from school while water to our houses has also been cut.
“We have had so many promises about investors coming, but nothing has been done.
“We think it would be better if President Mugabe were to intervene in the matter,” said Mr Munashe Mutanga, the vice-chairman of the workers committee.
Mr Ernest Gumbo said they could identify managers who had disposed of the company’s assets in suspected underhand dealings.
“In 2004, a lot of spare parts were sold and machinery and other vehicles were looted and we ended up recovering scrap metal for our day-to-day operations,” he alleged.
Shabanie Mine owes US$4 million to Zvishavane Town Council.
“We have had no option, but to cut water supplies although this exposes residents to diseases,” said council chairman Mr Alois Zhou.
He said up to four families were sharing a four-roomed house to cut expenses.
Mrs Rosemary Paradza said the dire situation had forced young girls into prostitution and boys into criminal activities.
“It is painful as a parent to be helpless and watch your children just going wayward. Our daughters are engaging in prostitution, exposing themselves to the deadly HIV, but they cannot do anything because they have nothing to do,” she said.
The workers also complained of the police response to an industrial action in 2009 in which three striking workers were shot and injured.
At Gaths Mine, which falls under SMM Holdings, workers expressed similar concerns.
“There are a lot of mining claims and instead of them benefiting foreigners, we should be allocated those so that we make ends meet. This talk of a new investor will not be an overnight thing yet we need to survive.
“Government has been talking about empowerment so it can start with us here,” said Mr Kennedy Zive- ngwa.
Government placed SMM Holdings – then owned by Mr Mutumwa Mawere – under reconstruction in 2004 following allegations of financial irregularities.
Mines Committee chairman Cde Edward Chindori-Chininga expressed displeasure at management’s alleged behaviour.
“We have heard what the workers said and we will take their views forward.
“Ours is not a witch-hunt; we just want to see if the law was properly followed.
“Management has boycotted the meetings, but we have followed procedure so we do not know if they were told not to co-operate with us.”
Cde Chindori-Chininga said Mr Gwaradzimba had indicated that continued media coverage of the mines would scare away potential investors.
The two mines employed at least 4 000 employees and the closure of the companies has affected approximately 10 000 people.
Many of them are now working at nearby farms.