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MDC concerned about the plight of workers and families in Shabanie and Mashava
Movement for Democratic Change
January 13, 2011

The party of excellence, MDC is concerned by the continued bickering and ownership wrangle between Zanu PF politiburo member, Patrick Chinamasa and businessman Mutumwa Mawere as the effects are gravely affecting the general population who rely on the existence of the Shabanie, Gaths and Mashava mines for their livelihoods. For six years now, these workers, their families, together with surrounding communal lands who depended on the mining towns have been at the receiving end. Shabanie and Mashava mines indirectly support surrounding farmlands that use Zvishavane town as the main supply center.

The reduction of these mines into dead capital means people in the surrounding areas can not tap into it for support. Workers have lost their incomes and their families can no longer afford a lifestyle they were used to before the de-specification of Mawere in July 2004. It is callous for government whether inclusive or exclusive to behold such suffering and it takes no remedial actions. It is equally heartless for any government to ignore the impact of such selfish and unproductive squabbles on the women, children, and underprivileged in our society. Sadly, the lives of over 60 000 people in the two towns and surrounding communal lands have been sacrificed by the wrangling over the future of the mines.

Zanu PF - true to its colour, has shown that it is anti-poor, anti-workers and anti-prosperity, which is why in the MDC, a pro-poor, pro-workers and pro-prosperity party, we have problems with a functionary of Zanu PF in the likes of Chinamasa, who want to despoil assets without considering the burden such behaviour has on the general populace. Prior to the wrangles, Shabanie mine used to employ more than 5 000 workers and produced 12 000 tonnes of asbestos per month, the bulk which was exported earning the country foreign currency. However, this has been reduced to dead capital, neither contributing to the growth of the towns, which are slowly turning into ghost towns, nor to the economy of this nation which could have been aided by the foreign currency.

The MDC finds the behaviour of Zanu PF towards the mines intriguing, for nothing can be achieved by the on-going stand-off with Mawere when a solution remains elusive. In particular, the events surrounding Mawere's fate smacks of policy confusion in that at one stage he is declared a criminal - thus forcing him to go into exile -- and on another his specification is lifted, without any cogent explanation. The policy flip flop sends a damaging message to any would-be investor, with devastating consequences for Zimbabwe's long term economic revival. The party is encouraged by the recent attempts by Parliament to intervene in the dispute and to restore order to the mines.

Chinamasa must come clean and tell the nation that the dispute lays squarely between himself, Zanu PF and Mawere - not with the Inclusive Government. The people of Shabanie, Gaths and Mashava deserve justice and fair play.

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