STAFF WRITER
THERE was outrage on Wednesday when it was revealed that Mabale villagers, Hwange, are not benefiting anything from quarry mining by government.
Assistant resident engineer at Gwayi-Shangani dam Lucio Chayeruka unwittingly told a visiting delegation that Mabale villagers were not benefiting anything from quarry mining in their community.
“We were lucky cause almost all the resources are available here. For example, we have the quarry and we are mining it. It is only the cement that we have to look for,” said Chayeruka.
However, this did not go well with the delegates who demanded to know how the Mabale community was benefitting from the mining activities.
“What l want to know is how is the community benefiting since it is entitled to 10 percent of the quarry, probed one delegate.
In response Chayeruka said: “We have parcelled out some of the quarry to schools in the area. When the project is finished who knows maybe the government, which is the client might give the mine to locals”.
Unimpressed another delegate asked how the locals are benefitting from the Gwayi-Shangani dam project.
“90 percent of our casual or general workers are locals. It is only the engineers who are not from this area,” he said.
Mabale, located in the rural part of Hwange district is one of the poorest communities in the country.
But it sits on top of rich quarry and coal reserves.
The Gwayi-Shangani dam is located in a gorge in Mabale, where Gwayi and Shangani rivers coalescence to form a confluence that leads to the Zambezi river.
The government wants to tap on the confluence to construct a dam that will supply water to the city of Bulawayo.
