Zanu PF chairperson of the resource mobilisation and revenue generation committee, Dexter Nduna, has called for the enactment of a policy that forces mining companies to rehabilitate roads and infrastructure in their operational areas, pulling resources directly from their pockets.
Nduna made the remarks while making a presentation at the party’s central committee meeting last week.
The central committee is the highest decision-making body outside congress, and its resolutions are often indicative and directive to government policy.
In his presentation, Nduna said it was high time the government abandoned “soft power” in dealing with miners, arguing that a significant number of them were extracting vast resources from mining towns while communities were benefitting little to nothing.
“We should respect Section 13 (4) of the constitution that speaks about rehabilitation — restoring to the community, using the resources, and the strategy that we take,” he said.
“To support this, youths in Zimbabwe should go into the areas which have been mined, map out how many miners are in that area, do a feasibility study with the Ministry of Transport and with the local authority in that area, on how many roads are in that place.
“After the study we bring out the cost of construction of that road network, using the methodology of three base layers of road construction so we can construct a road that can withstand 25 years of shelf life. The cost should be borne by the miners in that area.”
Nduna said miners, who were depleting the country’s mineral resources, were also responsible for damaging road networks and should be compelled to pay.
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“We just need to go in, raise an invoice. In circumstances when an invoice has been raised and it is not responded to positively, we then go to the constitution and other enabling Acts and we go to court to claim the money,” he said.
Nduna also raised concerns over the Great Dyke, where unplanned dams have mushroomed, posing a risk to both human life and livestock.
“A greater part of the Great Dyke area has seen the emergence of a lot of unplanned dams, and something must be done quickly before a number of people and their livestock drown in those areas,” he said.
“To completely annihilate the scourge of unplanned dams and rehabilitate some mineral extraction areas where miners have left gaping holes, some of the mountains that we have in the country might have to go. We can bring them down, remove the material, go and fill up those holes.”
Nduna was appointed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year to spearhead resource mobilisation for the ruling party, targeting mining, agriculture, and other business enterprises.
