My first observation is we cannot put Zvishavane/Mashava under ZMDC. It is a non starter. ZMDC is irrelevant in this structure because this is an operating company. If we say we raise something like $20 million, the company will start operating and tomorrow they will be making a profit. From the recommendations of the Hon. Member, how do we set up a board to run this company? It is my belief that most of the board members must be former workers and former managers of this company, because they know how this company has been running. The owner of this company has been staying in UK and he would only come here once a year. It has always been the management that has been running this company.
I used to go there and I know how these things happened. I know the value of that mine. It is a mine that can be turned into life tomorrow and we can earn some money for the country. The other thing that is very important is that when we have these big mines and we have some problems, it is important to go and call some of the workers who were retired and were doing critical jobs. They know how to do that thing and they will turn it around overnight. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
I am in the mining industry and as an employer we say anyone who reaches the age of 55 years must be retired. That is your prime time when you know everything and that is the major problem that we have in our mining industry. There are some people who were working on that mine who reached 55 years who were retired and who still have the capacity to resuscitate the mine which will benefit everybody. Some people just say things out of ignorance. All the houses in our rural areas are made out of asbestos from Zvishavane. If you go to Glen Norah, before extension, all those houses had no ceiling and it was all asbestos.
So, there are some people and because they do not belong to the country, they always do not like the products of their country. They are saying they are toxic and this and that. It is all lies. It is that asbestos from Europe which has got fibre that affects our lungs. This fibre from Zvishavane is very clean. If people do not know, it is always better to keep quiet and then we will not know that you are an ignorant person. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
The other thing that we must look at now as an immediate measure is how to look after our people and improve the quality of the lives of our people. The Ministry of Social Welfare must move in and say let us organise food for these households because they are not employed and they are not farming anywhere. We organise them in clusters or in wards and say let us give them some food before the company operates and even to give them some soft loans, because that company will never operate and make a loss. It is there and it is very clear.
Mr. Speaker Sir, mines or any mineral only has got value when it is taken out of the ground. You cannot say it has value when it is underground it is underground mixing with water. We must always thrive to bring our minerals out of the ground and put them on the market so that we benefit our country. When we have this chance to discuss about ZMDC, we must look at several mines that are under the umbrella of ZMDC which are not operating.
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