Villagers in Mutoko were left scavenging for water after a
local granite mining company, upon closing shop, sealed off boreholes it had
drilled in the area.
In his report during a provincial coordinating committee
held in Marondera on Sunday, Zanu PF’s Mashonaland East political commissar and
Mutoko South legislator Hebert Shumbamhini said the mining company, called Reds
or Sidingo, sealed the water sources and refused to renovate the houses of
villagers that developed cracks caused by blasting despite having pledged to do
so.
“We have a mining company that wound up its operations in
Mutoko district. They had sunk boreholes in the area, but when they left, they
sealed all the boreholes that were benefiting villagers. We tried to engage
them to renovate villagers’ houses that cracked during the time they were
operating as a result of blasting as well as repairing bridges, but (it was) in
vain. We kindly ask the authorities to assist on these matters,” he said.
Shumbamhini added that the company also removed the water
pumping equipment from the boreholes.
Efforts to get a comment from the mining company were
fruitless yesterday.
Despite the abundant natural resource, Mutoko is one of the
poorest districts in Zimbabwe, with mining companies extracting granite and
exporting it to Europe since 1972.
At least 98% of black granite extracted from Mutoko is
exported to Germany, Spain and Italy.
According to the Zimbabwe Mineral Development Corporation,
Mutoko produces 75% of Zimbabwe’s black granite. Newsday
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