Press Release
Statement By Honourable Senator Lilian Timveos, Senator For The Midlands Province, Alternative Minister And MDC Spokesperson For Home Affairs.
MDC DEPLORES CLOSURE OF SABI GOLD MINE
Zimbabwe. – The closure of Sabi Gold Mine in Zvishavane District, Midlands Province has come as a terrible blow to many Zimbabweans.
More than 500 Sabi Mine workers were sent home at the beginning of June 2014.
The workers were given a pitiful $15 each as their ‘salaries’ after Sabi Mine failed to pay them for six months.
There is no hope that the workers will ever be paid as the Government claims there is no money for salaries or to pay off creditors, who are owed $20 million.
Thousands of people are also affected by this disastrous mine closure.
The MDC asserts that the problem at Sabi Mine, like all parastatals, remains corruption, coupled with poor management. The Government has acknowledged this by firing the board and top management of the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, which operates Sabi Mine on
behalf of the State.
The MDC demands a full inquiry into the closure of this highly productive mine. Information at hand shows that at the time of closure, the mine was producing more than 30 kilograms of gold per
month, valued at nearly $2 million.
The question is, ‘Where did all the money go’? The company was not paying workers and creditors. There are no verifiable records of remittances to the Treasury. It is, therefore, logical to conclude that the money was looted, just as billions of dollars from other State enterprises have been stolen by Zanu PF officials.
The MDC and people of Zimbabwe call upon the Government to immediately re-open this mine and pay its workers and creditors.
It is also the MDC’s considered position that the Government should allow an independent authority to run State enterprises along professional lines. It is time for enterprises like Sabi Mine to start
benefiting all the people of Zimbabwe and not continue to be an extension of the Zanu PF gravy train, to be used for rewarding loyalists and hangers on in a stinking system of patronage.
Zanu PF claims that it can create millions of jobs through ZIMASSET.
How can this happen when the available jobs are being allowed to slip away?
Thank you.
Issued By Honourable Senator Lilian Timveos, Senator For The Midlands Province, Alternative Minister and MDC Spokesperson For Home Affairs.
E-mail: lilimikoro@gmail.com, Mobile: 263 779 071 082.
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