Shabanie and Mashaba Mines Holdings Administrator, Afaras Gwarazimba, confirmed the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) disconnected power supplies over an outstanding debt. Gwarazimba said the Shabanie Mine is in talks with ZESA over how the US$3million debt to the power utility will be paid. “We have engaged ZESA and explained our position. We told them that we need power to operate and that once the company is capitalised, we will pay them,” Gwarazimba said. Shabanie Mine was recently rocked by a worker protest action over outstanding salaries, some dating back to as far as seven months.
Police opened fire on hundreds of striking workers in Zvishavane, injuring four workers, including an MDC councillor, in an incident Tsvangirai’s party condemned. Gwarazimba said the company had not been able to pay workers their full salaries for several months because of cash flow problems. Shabanie and Mashaba mines, which produce asbestos, were expropriated by President Robert Mugabe’s government from exiled businessman Mutumwa Mawere in 2004 when his company was put under judicial administration for allegedly failing to pay debts.