Story by Mhlomuli Ncube
THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development has unearthed potential criminal underhand dealings at the Bubi Small Scale Miners Association Milling Plant in Matabeleland North.
The Bubi Gold Milling Plant was set up as a joint venture between the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and local miners in the area.
The ZMDC holds 60 % while 40 % equity was given to the local community.
The government then injected US$3 million into the project in the form of a loan which has since been paid off.
Milling started in 2018 and the miners say to date they have produced 17 kilogrammes of the yellow metal.
When the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development visited the area this Friday, questions arose on how the venture managed to pay off the loan after only delivering 17 kilogrammes of gold to Fidelity Gold Refinery.
The community raised a cocktail of challenges at the venture.
“As miners we were not served well at this buying centre, nothing good came out of here. As you can see for yourselves how vandalised this place is, we did not get anything as beneficiaries. As a community, we were expecting that this project would benefit our district but as you can see for yourselves it did before it was born, even if you ask them when they last spoke to us as ZMDC they did not even know,” local miners said.
The miners at the venture have lamented the alleged lack of accountability and transparency at the venture.
Among some of the allegations raised is the purchase of three tractors and a lorry to ferry ore, with only one tractor having been delivered, despite being fully paid for.
It also emerged that seven compressors were fully paid for and only three were delivered and a weighbridge was bought and fully paid for, but only parts of it were delivered.
“Actually it was two tractors but Dulys only managed to supply one, there were legal issues which are being handled by the ZMDC legal department. There is also another company which was supposed to supply a truck and it did not happen, it is also being handled by the legal department,” Milling Plant Manager, Mr Gezana Sithole said.
As the scheme encountered problems, the community also reportedly pulled out and it also emerged the plant was only switched on when the management heard of the Portfolio Committee visit.
“This project here was built using government funds. What we discovered today is that it is actually abandoned. We realised that the management here had to hire people from around after hearing that we were coming just to cheat the committee, so that the committee would believe that something was happening but honestly, nothing is happening here, the locals have also told us that for most of the things they were promised, nothing happened,” the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Honourable Felix Maburutse said.
It also emerged the participating community members are now taking their ore to other millers for processing.
