MUTARE– Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Minerals Development, Edmond Mukaratigwa has hinted that the mines and minerals bill has stalled due to the understaffing of the Attorney General’s department who are currently overwhelmed by constitutional amendments.
This follows complains by civil society that the new law is taking long to come amid chaos and disorder in the country’s mining sector.
Mukaratigwa, who is also a Member of Parliament for Shurugwi South told a Local Economic and Social Development on Diamonds (LESDD) Indaba organized by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) that the new mining law which has stalled since 2015 will likely be finalized this year.
The Mines and Mineral Bill has been stuck in Parliament since 2015 and last year President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered that it be taken back to parliament after some stakeholders complained that they were left out in the drafting phase.
“The AG are overwhelmed and understaffed and reforms of the Ministry of Finance and we hope that slowly they will be increasing their staff, they may take four or so weeks before they can complete the bill,” said Mukaratigwa.
Zimbabwe’s mineral sector has been operating without a binding legal framework following the repeal of the previous Act in 2015, and since then government has failed to come up with legislation to guide operations in the sector.
ZELA director Shamiso Mtisi said civil society, despite actively participating in the process, is not happy with the slow pace of amending the Mines and Minerals Act, which has been hanging since 2015.
“As part of the civil society that has been following the mines and Minerals bill we are not happy that the process has taken long and that the process has also not moved as we expected mainly because of the congested calendar at the Attorney General’s office.
“We had hoped the process would move faster to address issues like the establishment of the Cadastre system which is included in the draft bill, balancing interest of miners and farmers and also the issues of restructuring the mining affairs board and also issues to do with environmental rehabilitation processes,” said Mtisi.
