The research therefore agrees with the notion that the rural communities in Hwange are not
benefitting from the coal mining activities being undertaken by Hwange Colliery Company.
Communities around the Hwange Colliery mining concession area live mostly in rural set ups
and derive most of the livelihoods from subsistence farming. They are being made to bear the
adverse environmental impact of the coal mining activities. The communities are vulnerable
and hit-hard by poverty and food insecurity. On the other hand the Colliery workers live in
squalid conditions and are not being paid their salaries despite the mine being in production.
Civic society and community based groups which have been dead in Hwange are now on the
rise. Their voices are however still to grow louder and shake up the status quo.
Government has made an attempt to get communities in mining areas involved in mining
operations through the Indigenisation and Economic Act. The problem with the Act is that
when it was enacted it was targeting mining operations owned by foreign companies. There
appears to be no pressure for companies such as Hwange Colliery, in which the government
of Zimbabwe is a major shareholder, to comply with the law. Hence as it stands the
communities in Hwange are yet to be part of the mining operations. In any case where this
law is being enforced the selection of those who make up the Community Share Ownership
Trusts (CSOT) is the prerogative of the Government. The majority if not all of the people
have links with the ruling party.
###
31