The Zimbabwe Artisanal Miners Association (ZAMA) has joined the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) as an affiliate member.
The yesteryear-formed outfit officially became a member of the ZMF today in Msasa.
Speaking to Mining Zimbabwe on the development ZMF President Ms Henrietta Rushwaya said the coming-in of more Associations into the ZMF family ensures Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASM) interests are well taken care of.
“The coming in of ZAMA as one of the affiliate members of ZMF is a milestone achievement especially in the sense that ZAMA among many other Associations that have joined ZMF will bring in lots of expertise and lots of membership that had already affiliated under their flagship. This will help us in achieving and attaining one objective of ensuring that the interests of Small-scale miners are taken care of. ZMF has quite a number of Associations under its purview some that deal with interests that involve women, others deal with conservancy others deal with the environment, others deal with the youths, others deal with people with disabilities and so forth. So ZAMA is welcome to be part of the big ZMF Family and welcome on board to ZAMA,” Rushwaya said.
ZAMA National chairperson Constance Muchoni said joining the Federation is a welcome development for the Association as it stands to benefit immensely from affiliating with the ZMF.
“It’s out of necessity as ZAMA is an association within the Mining Sector and according to the structure of the sector, we have to affiliate to ZMF. Our work as ZAMA compliments both the work of ZMF and the Ministry of Mines. It is a welcome development for ZAMA as the Association stands to benefit a lot from ZMF,” Muchoni said.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF)
Zimbabwe Miners Federation’s birth was marked to represent and contribute to the development, growth, and empowerment of the artisanal and small-scale (ASM) miners in Zimbabwe. Established in 2003, the ZMF seeks to bring ASM into the mainstream economy through lobbying and support of ASM operations.
Part of the ZMF objectives is lobbying for the formalization and regularisation of artisanal miners, and small-scale miners. ZMF ensures that legislation in the country is conducive for ASM mining operations and at the same time developing a good rapport with the government.
ZMF links on a day-to-day basis, with its partners who are stakeholders which include but not limited to government, investors, mining service providers, suppliers, and tertiary training institutions that complete the mineral value chain. ZMF has a total of 60+ affiliate associations at the district and provincial levels.
It is by far Zimbabwe’s largest mining body with a membership of over 1,5 million.
