daniel chigunwe
Freedom Mupanedemo
Midlands Bureau
Chief Ngungumbane of Mberengwa at the weekend led a delegation of local traditional leaders for a meeting to petition mining company, Kuvimba Mining House, to consider assisting with development projects and the relocation of Sandawana Primary School which is too close to mining activities.
The activities are said to be posing a number of dangers to learners and teaching staff, prompting local leaders to seek the school’s relocation.
Chief Ngungumbane said the meeting’s other major objective was to engage the mine to consider embarking on community development projects that would change the face of the area where there is lithium mining.
Chief Ngungumbane said there had been sticking points to do with the poor road network and underdevelopment in the area where the mining house has been extracting the local resource.
“We were satisfied with the outcome of this meeting as Sandawana Mine has agreed to implement most of what we had raised as the Chiefs of this area. It’s a good starting point and we are really appreciative of their commitment to develop Mberengwa,” said Chief Ngungumbane.
He said the mining company was willing to work with the local traditional leadership while initiating development
“There are prospects for further community empowerment as the mine has expressed commitment to providing scholarships for local students to pursue careers in mining,” he said.
Kuvimba Mining House group chief executive, Mr Simbarashe Chinyemba confirmed the meeting with the traditional leaders which he said was fruitful.
“We acknowledge the concerns raised by our traditional leaders. They are quite genuine and valid and we will in the immediate term start working on relocating the primary school to a more secure space. Over and above that we will also be looking at expediting road construction which is one of the key areas that we had already started where currently we have completed almost 13 kilometres of the road rehabilitation project,” said Mr Chinyemba.
Online Reporter