The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
WOMEN miners in Gwanda district, Matabeleland South are failing to fully utilise a gold service centre, which was installed by the Government last year as part of efforts to empower them to increase production of the yellow metal.
The $500 000 Mthandazo Women’s Gold Service Centre, which is located in the Colleen Bawn area has not operated at full throttle since it was officially opened by Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko late last year due to the unavailability of running water.
The project had been in the pipeline since 2006 but failure to source adequate funding for the purchase of the requisite machinery delayed its implementation.
However, the Government through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development — working with its partner the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) — managed to source the required funding.
UNDP had an agreement with the Government to support women empowerment programmes and encourage them to fully participate in the various sectors of the economy.
Mthandazo Women’s Gold Service Centre chairperson Mrs Sithembile Ndlovu said the association was being hard done by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa)’s failure to provide water at its plant, a strategic resource in the processing of gold.
“We have been facing water challenges since we started operations. To be precise we receive water for about an hour in about two weeks and it will be about 2 000 litres which is insufficient for us to process the ore.
“Water is the most vital resource in gold production and this has significantly hampered our production and we have even lost a substantial number of clients who come to process their ore for a fee,” she said.
Mrs Ndlovu accused Zinwa of deliberately frustrating the women’s efforts to enhance their livelihoods.
“Zinwa claims that our pipeline has a number of leaks and as such it is forced to cut water supplies to us but we are disturbed by the fact that we are continuously being billed almost the same amount which is over $300 a month.
“We have been querying their billing system because they said our meter was faulty and was no longer taking readings and when we approached them asking how they came up with their monthly bill, they said they were allowed by the law to come up with estimates,” she said.
Members of the service centre have resorted to hiring trucks to fetch the resource at various water sources.
A total of 32 women miners utilise the Gold Service Centre with 15 owning claims within Gwanda District while others are tributing.
“Although the centre was officially opened in November we started operating it in January. We had slight hitches earlier on as we were not acquainted to using the machinery because the contractor left the site before imparting us with the requisite knowledge.
“Production at most of our mines was also affected by the incessant rains because most shafts collapsed. Of importance though is that the service centre enabled us to get virtually all the equipment required for gold production. We used to hire compressors for $100 but now we have them and we are even hiring them out,” said Mrs Ndlovu.
Ward 22 Councillor George Chipengo, whose jurisdiction the service centre falls under, said there was a need for Zinwa to be considerate of the women’s plight and work on ensuring undisrupted water supplies for them to be productive.
“Zinwa should be considerate about the plight of these women. Mining is their source of income and their failure to be productive will most likely to render most of them impoverished. It’s also against the Government’s efforts aimed at empowering women,” Clr Chipengo.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) chief executive officer Mr Wellington Takavarasha said his organisation was going to engage the parties involved (Mthandazo Women’s Gold Service Centre and Zinwa) in an effort to seek ways of solving the impasse.
“As ZMF we are going to engage both parties and find how best the impasse can be resolved. Remember the project was funded by UNDP through the Government and as such all other stakeholders are expected to play a part to enable it to succeed and augment its production. Thus we will endeavour to create a dialogue so that we solve the impasse amicably,” said Mr Takavarasha.
However, Zinwa corporate communications and marketing manager Ms Marjorie Munyonga said the authority had since disconnected the Gold Service Centre due to non-payment and failure to honour a payment plan.
“Mthandazo Women’s Gold Service Centre, in our records, is using an account number under the name Sithembile Ndlovu, who owes the Authority more than $2 000 in one account and $325,95 in another account which was applied on behalf of Mthandazo Women’s Gold Service Centre. We have since disconnected her on the 18th of May after numerous engagements which failed to yield any positive results,” she said.
Ms Munyonga urged members of the Gold Service Centre to approach Zinwa for the processing of an application to be billed as a group instead of an individual.
“She (Mrs Ndlovu) has also failed to honour a payment plan that she proposed to the Authority. We therefore urge Mthandazo Women’s Gold Service Centre to make their own application which is independent from Sithembile Ndlovu which they can service and guarantee uninterrupted supply,” she said.
Statistics show that out of 50 000 artisanal miners in the country 15 percent are women with 20 percent of the small-scale and gemstone claims belonging to men.
@DNsingo
