The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions welcomes the conducting of public hearings by the Parliamentary Portfolio committee on Mines and Energy to establish the extent to which the closure of Shabanie and Mashaba mines have affected the Zvishavane and Mashava communities. The Shabanie and Mashaba mines saga has dragged on since 2005 and it is the ordinary workers and the communities of the towns that have been adversely affected. We believe the problems that bedevil the mines are of a political nature and it is worrisome that political interests have superseded the interests of thousands of workers and their families. Though welcome, the public hearings have come at a time when the mines operations have ground to a halt yet the ZCTU sounded warning bells in February 2010 to the imminent closure of the mines thereby urging authorities to look into the matter and come up with solutions to avoid a complete shutdown.
It is our conviction that the mines were doing better before they were placed under judicial management and what the judicial manager has simply done is to fast track this unfortunate demise.
The ZCTU hopes that after these hearings, the Committee will make public its findings. We also expect that information on how much production took place when the mines were placed under judiciary management, what profits were realised, how much the judiciary manager and his political cronies looted.
Wellington Chibebe
SECRETARY GENERAL
22 February 2011
Post published in: News