The Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Eng Fred Moyo, has called on mining stakeholders to embrace decentralisation as a critical enabler of the country’s beneficiation agenda, urging miners to move knowledge and skills from central institutions to districts across Zimbabwe, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking on Thursday at the Miners for Economic Development high-level strategic meeting in Gweru, Deputy Minister Moyo outlined a vision for capacity building that prioritises technical training at the local level, without necessarily waiting for physical infrastructure.
“Decentralisation is moving knowledge from the School of Mines in Bulawayo to the districts,” Hon Eng Moyo said. “Knowledge comes with the lecturers who come there. So your role is to invite the School of Mines to send either their lecturers frequently or to send their lecturers to go and create sub-lecturers in your districts.”
The Deputy Minister urged miners to take ownership of their own technical development by engaging directly with training institutions.
“If you select a few of you and the School of Mines comes and trains people in your district to the point where they are given certificates to say they can now impart technical skills to others, is the school not decentralising?” he asked.
He emphasised that decentralisation need not wait for the construction of new buildings or campuses.
“Bring the School of Mines to your areas through structures, not through buildings. I want us to think, go and do that.”
Hon Eng Moyo linked the decentralisation imperative directly to the government’s recent decision to suspend raw mineral and lithium concentrate exports, a move designed to force local processing and value addition.
“We’ve just shut down the export of lithium for obvious reasons,” he reminded the gathering of miners from across the country. “Now we must build.”
The connection he drew was clear: beneficiation cannot happen without skills. Processing plants require technicians, metallurgists, and engineers who understand the technology. Those skills, he argued, must be developed at the community level, not concentrated in urban centres.
The Deputy Minister’s remarks point to a fundamental shift in how mining communities engage with technical education. Rather than sending young people away to Bulawayo for training—a model that often results in them not returning to their home districts—the new approach envisions training delivered locally, creating a pool of skilled workers who remain embedded in their communities.
This model aligns with broader government objectives under the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), which prioritises inclusive growth and ensures that the benefits of mineral extraction extend beyond the mine gate to surrounding communities.
Mr Edmund Dru Kucherera, Vice Chairman of the Miners for Economic Development, welcomed the Deputy Minister’s remarks.
“What the Deputy Minister is saying speaks directly to the challenges our members face,” Kucherera said. “We cannot process our minerals if we do not have the skills. Bringing training to the districts is the only way we will build the technical capacity needed for true beneficiation.”
Co-Vice Chairman for Technical Mining, Mr Phillimon Mokoele, who also serves at ZIMSHEC, noted that his organisation has been working to bridge this gap through partnerships with training institutions.
“ZIMSHEC has already been working with Midlands State University and the Zimbabwe School of Mines to deliver training to small-scale miners,” Mokoele said. “The Deputy Minister’s vision validates that approach and challenges us to scale it up.”
