The ManicaPost
Lovemore Kadzura
Post Correspondent
TWO factions of the Chiadzwa Community Share Ownership Trust (CCSOT) that have been bickering over control of the US$1.2 million dividend declared by one of mining companies from the area this week finally buried the hatchet, following swift intervention by Government and other stakeholders.
The US$1.2m dividend was declared to the CCSOT by Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), which is mining diamonds at Chiadzwa.
So serious was the infighting and bickering over the handling and utilisation of the US$1.2m windfall that it almost scuttled the noble intentions by the mining company to plough back into the community.
ZCDC on Tuesday dispatched a high powered delegation led by its board vice-chairperson, Engineer Clara Sadomba, chief executive officer, Dr Douglas Zimbango and non-executive director, Mr Thomas Lusiyano to engage the warring CCSOT leadership and successfully ironed out the differences.
CCSOT trustees led by Chief Marange, parliamentarians, Honourable Nyasha Marange (Mutare West), Honourable Admire Mahachi (Mutare North), Honourable Albert Nyakuedzwa (Makoni South) and Honourable Dunmore Dumbarimwe (Mutare South) attended the meeting together with Mutare District Development Coordinator, Mr Tendai Kapenzi and senior officials from Mutare Rural District Council.
In an interview after the lengthy closed-door deliberations, ZCDC corporate affairs executive, Mr Sugar Chagonda said the meeting reached a common ground and stakeholders agreed to work for the good of their respective communities.
Mr Chagonda also said CCSOT will not have the US$1.2m deposited directly into its bank account.
He said ZCDC will do all the procurement on their behalf, while the Trust identifies critical community projects that must be implemented.
“We had a round table meeting with the leaders of Chiadzwa Community Share Ownership Trust, officials from Mutare Rural District Council and Government. The main reason was to understand how business is being transacted by the Trust with a view to strengthen on how best we can work together, particularly in terms of implementation of projects.
“We want to see seamless coordination for the benefit of the community. A number of issues were discussed, and these were to do with corporate governance, accountability and transparency in projects implementation. There was inadequate information among critical stakeholders.
“The community, Government representatives and ZCDC managed to find each other on how best we can work together so that we see the implementation of the projects. The US$1.2m was given to the community, but this money will not be deposited into the Trust’s bank account. The projects identified by the community will be implemented by ZCDC.
“ZCDC is a State-owned entity which follows strict tenets of good corporate governance, and our procurement is quite clear as we follow Government procedures,” he said.
Chief Marange, who chairs the Trust, also concurred, and said all the sticky issues were ironed out.
He said the implementation of agreed projects should progress without delay.
“A lot was discussed, and we reached an agreement that the implementation of the projects should start in earnest. We should utilise the funding wisely for the benefit of the Marange community. We need more boreholes, as well as animal rearing projects in the area. The leadership issue of the Trust was also clarified and all the simmering differences were ironed out and settled,” said Chief Marange.
The Trust’s chief executive officer, Dr Hardwork Mukwada said they are expecting a smooth flow of operations following Tuesday’s meeting.
“The agenda was on community development. Stakeholders that comprised the community, Government, MPs and ZCDC met to discuss pertinent issues, and we are now on one track. The gaps that were in the system were identified and resolutions were made to rectify them.
“The meeting was highly productive, and going forward we expect our systems to be perfected. We will keep reviewing our operations so that we can serve our communities more competently,” said Dr Mukwada.
