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benefit the majority, Vice President Joice Mujuru has said.
She was speaking yesterday at a ground breaking ceremony of the US$100 000 clinic to be built by Ilford Services Private Limited in Chitse, Mt Darwin.
“Companies doing business here (Zimbabwe) should look at the communities they are working in and give back. We need this social responsibility not just for companies to loot resources and the communities around them have nothing to show,” she said.
Cde Mujuru said Zimbabwe enjoys peace and tranquility and the investors should thank the Government for such a conducive environment.
“These companies should complement Govern-ment efforts to empower the majority. This is what President Mugabe wants. He is always saying we should go to the people and serve the people,” she said.
She commended Ilford Services, a granite processing company, for being exemplary and leading other foreign firms by building the clinic.
The clinic, which is set to be completed by December this year, will have two wards. It will serve people in Mudzengerere and surrounding areas. The company will also build houses for staff at the clinic.
Cde Mujuru urged the company, which has already built another clinic in Matope area, to complete the project.
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empo-werment Minister Savior Kasukuwere warned foreign investors that they risked losing their businesses if they fail to improve the communities from where they operated.
“I hope companies exploiting the resources appreciate the communities they are working in and should stop looting resources but give back to the communities,” he said.
Cde Kasukuwere who is also the Mount Darwin South MP said foreign firms should ensure that they leave the residual value in the country.
“The resources should benefit the people . . . we have been quiet for a long time but now we have a legal instrument to push these companies to give back to the people. Wealth must be shared,” he said.
Illford Services Pvt Ltd financial director Mr Wirimai Chimbongore assured Cde Mujuru that the company would continue helping the community.
“We have the resources and according to our projections we assure you that we will complete constructing the clinic by December this year. We also want to ensure that we complete the Matope Clinic forthwith,” he said.
Apart from the clinic project, Illford Services has also set up a pre school for children at the quarry site and is already building a cattle dip tank. Ilford managing director Mr Yves-Marc Charvet and two other company representatives Mr Simba Utsiwegota and Mr Innocent Utsiwegota also assured the Chitse community the firm would assist them.
Mashonaland Central Governor Advocate Martin Dinha, Minister of State in the Vice President’s Office Sylvester Nguni, Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Cde Dickson Mafios, Mt
Darwin Senator Alice Chimbudzi, the Zanu-PF provincial leadership, members of the National Consultative Assembly, chiefs and senior government officials attended the ceremony.
Earlier Cde Mujuru officially opened a Nico Orgo farm centre at Mt Darwin Business Centre.
The centre was set up to assist farmers not to travel for long distances to buy inputs such as organic fertilisers, seed and pesticides.
Cde Mujuru also commissioned a solar cellphone charger at Sosera Primary School donated by NetOne.
Online Reporter