DURATION Gold Limited has welcomed President Mnangagwa’s new appointee to the portfolio of Minister of Mines and Mining Development Soda Zhemu, pledging to work together with the new principal in the mining sector to achieve His Excellency’s target of a 12 billion United States dollar mining industry by the lapse of this decade.
Duration Gold Limited are the operators of Vubachikwe gold mine in Gwanda, currently under care and management, Athens Mine in Mvuma, Royal Family in Filabusi as well as Gaika Mine in Kwekwe.
In a statement issued by the Managing Director, Mr Allan Dolan, Duration Gold said they looked forward to working with Minister Zhemu as well as strengthen ties with the ministry whilst being at hand to help in all discussions related to policy formulation whenever called upon, in a country that is constantly strengthening its laws for the good of the nation and statutory harmony of the laws as they relate to other jurisdictions.
“We welcome the appointment of Minister Zhemu into a portfolio as important and central as mines and mining development, at an exciting time for the mining industry in Zimbabwe. Handling a portfolio as strategic and central as mining could never be more challenging. That it has been put in the hands of a man of integrity, a known man of prayer and spiritual reflection, makes players in the industry calm, applauding the wise decision of the president in his appointment.” reads the statement.
“His personal traits and service record in Muzarabani North constituency, where he has personally visited the sick and afflicted, distributed wheelchairs and assistance to the infirm as well as distributed food to the widows and orphans speaks to a man of the people who can be trusted with handling national resources and steering the ship of policy framework and implementation at a time such as this.”
“Minister Zhemu’s leadership in pushing goverment aspirations even outside of his mandated portfolios is further demonstrated by his road expansion projects in Muzarabani, as well as work in far flung areas.
His in-constituency accomplishments in Dande include, but are not limited to, the building of a clinic in Chiwenga communal area, rehabilitation and building of Kadurure Bridge, construction of a school residence at Muzarabani Secondary school as well as the construction of a school block at Boore Secondary School.”
“All these projects and more, spanning the width of the majestic Mavhuradonha Mountain range, speak to a people centred approach to development; a policy which we share with the incoming minister.
“The development in Muzarabani North is sample proof that he has the selflessness needed to run national resources, no doubt a trait that stood out to his appointing authority, confirming that he is fit for purpose. While the energy ministry may have lost out, we celebrate this gain, and are absolutely faithful that his replacement in his erstwhile portfolio has the strength of character and capacity to continue where Minister Zhemu left off.”
“With an ever changing climate of discoveries and changing dynamics, there is no doubt a continued and continuous refining of laws which are constantly going into the furnace to refine the laws and make sure they suit ever changing circumstances.”
“We pledge to be on call as advisors whenever our expertise or humble opinion is sought, to ensure our laws are in step with our shared ambition to make Zimbabwe’s economy unshakeable, underpinned by a robust 12 billion United States dollar mining industry contribution to the fiscus in the not too distant future.”
“It is no doubt been repeatedly on public record that the start of the minister’s tenure also comes at a time when we are experiencing changes of our own in our organisation vis-a-vis our operations with our flagship under care and maintenance pending the injection of fresh funding, a resource building exercise to ensure sustainable mining practices that safeguard the mine for future generations as well as greater production after reopening.
The process is painful as is the case with any new challenges similarly daunting, and yet it is exciting and with the right guidance always ends in the beauty of success. This cannot be achieved without the active advice, hand holding and wisdom of the incoming principal in the ministry, and we shall seek his counsel and wisdom as well as his active partnership and participation to ensure that all this is attained successfully.”
“We wish to take this opportunity to wish our outgoing principal and leader Minister Winston Chitando sound success in his new posting with local government and thank him profusely for a fruitful term at the helm where we achieved many milestones guided by his wise counsel as well as the professional guidance from the ministry team led by Permanent Secretary Mr Pfungwa Kunaka,” reads the statement.
Duration Good have since announced an accelerated period of attention towards the implementation of the work out plan following groundbreaking thawing of relations between management at Vubachikwe and the workers, which begins in earnest this Tuesday as they amicably convene before a round table at the National Employment Council. This is going to be the first step to iron out grievances between management and staff pertinent in clearing out before the workout plan can be adopted and implemented. A number of hard conditions have been set by potential funding partners which need to be achieved before the work out plan can be funded but the impasse had long presented arguably one of the toughest impediments to progress.
Source Zimbabwe Situations
