HARARE - With workers at Shabanie Mine having gone for two years now without getting their salaries, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has welcomed the move by the Parliamentary Portfolio committee on Mines and Energy to establish the extent to which the closure of the Shaba
There are reports that the desperate workers are doing everything in order to survive – including selling off their children. The mine used to be owned by Mutumwa Mawere but was nationalised by the government of Zimbabwe in 2004. Since then, the fall of the mine has been swift.
Electricity has been cut off and only the goodwill of the council has kept taps flowing with water as the jobless workers find themselves with no source of income. The respected ZCTU said the suffering of people at the two mines was political and should not be allowed to continue.
This 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believe the problems that bedevil the mines are of a political nature and it is worrisome that political interests have superseded the interests of thousands of workers and their families, said ZCTUs Secretary General, Wellington Chibebe.
The placing of the mine under a judicial manager has had an adverse effect, he said. Prior to being nationalised the mine was successful and was at the heart of the town of Zvishavane, providing employment to people in the surrounding communities.
Chibebe urged the committee to make its findings public, and also provide information on how much production took place when the mines were placed under judicial management, what profits were realised, and how much the judicial manager and his political cronies looted.
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