Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Winston Chitando has appealed to parties in the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) leadership wrangle to go for an out-of-court settlement in order to save the beleaguered small scale miners representative body from further dissensions.
Speaking at a press conference in Harare this morning, Chitando said the ongoing litigation processes are hampering the body from effectively carrying out its duties as tensions escalate between a Zvishavane based miners group which is a member of ZMF and the Henrietta Rushwaya led administration.
“I wish to state upfront that Zimbabwe Miners Federation is a very key stakeholder in the development of mining industry in Zimbabwe and as such it is absolutely important that it operates efficiently and in a manner that is representative of its membership,”
“It is absolutely important that for a body which represents a significant number of operators in the mining industry that leadership issues are not resolved in courts, we would like to see leadership issues being resolved by parties coming together and amicably resolving any disputes that may have arisen. So in my capacity as patron I am appealing to the ZMF, the associations, who are members of ZMF to put the interests of the federation first. In my capacity as patron I will engage the parties so that we resolve these issues,” said Chitando.
Zvishavane-Mberengwa Mining Association (ZMMA) is disputing the legitimacy of ZMF president Henrietta Rushwaya citing illegalities in the proceedings leading to her election in June 2018.
Earlier today, Bulawayo High Court dismissed an urgent application by ZMMA to overcome the election of Rushwaya as invalid after the later had won an appeal after being stripped of the presidency by the court earlier.
Among more pertinent issues, Rushwaya, who is a former chief executive officer at Zimbabwe Football Association several years ago is also being accused of not having a sound background in the mining industry and is widely perceived not to be representing the interests of the smale-scale-miners.
