Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

In a bid to force diversified group RioZim Limited to bend over to their demands for reasonable remuneration, employees working at the group’s mines have threatened to withdraw their services until their demands for fair compensation and good working environments are met.

Rudairo Mapuranga

Through a letter seen by this publication written by the General Secretary of Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Mine Workers Union (ZDAMWU) Mr Justice Chinhema, the employees raised a number of issues which they said needed to be addressed which includes the non-payment of bonuses, non-payment of salaries on the due date, non-provision of protective clothing among other reasons.

The contents of the letter reads:

We write on behalf of our members at your mines, Renco, Cam and Motor and ENR. Please note our professional interest.

You may recall the several meetings we had between Mine Managers and the respective Human resources personnel at your different locations aforesaid. You may also acknowledge that issues have been ventilated and several resolutions were made. In particular, in December 2021, we agreed on payments on back pay and salaries that were due. In January 2022, in respect of Cam and Motor, and ENR, parties signed a certificate of settlement before the Labour officer after a dispute that nearly accumulated into a job action.

In April 2022, we had a meeting with your workers at Renco, and our thrust then was to avoid collective job action that was looming. You are aware of what then followed after the issues the workers were raising were not resolved, resulting in court litigations.

There are two important issues to highlight herein. The first is the issue of a settlement certificate that was breached, and subsequent salary dates from the employer which were never honoured on time. The second issue is the proposals that were submitted before the labour court in respect of Renco employees, which proposals continues to be renegaded upon by the employer and matters postponed at whim.

Now, the employees have organised themselves in unison, and are saying enough is enough. The employer is always ready to employ the no work no pay principle, but in defiance of the parity principle, the employer is not willing to employ the no pay no work principle.

The main issues are:

1. a) Non-payment of bonus.
2. b) Non-payment of salaries on due date.
3. c) Delay of back pay payment, resulting in loss of value on rtgs.
4. d) Payment of salaries in instalments.
5. e) Continued threats to workers committee
6. f) Non-provision of PPE
7. g) Discrimination on bonus payment-favourable treatment of permanent employee against fixed term contractors.
8. h) Non-compliance with Works Council resolutions.
9. i) Negotiating in the works council in bad faith

All the workers at your different mine stations have agreed that they cannot continue to leave in this prison-like employment set-up, to the extent that some are even suggesting that Renco mine be re-named to Renco Open Prison.

The plan now is to embark on a country-wide collective job action. This is not the notice in of section 104(2a) of the Labour Act Chapter 28:01. It is a warning of what is looming, and we demand answers. The Biox issue that we were promised would increase output by April 2022 has not improved the situation as was promised in the meetings we had with the management in December 2021.

We are also left with no option but to agree with the workers that their situation needs the employer to act, and if the employer fails to act, the workers will take action and defend their rights as per provisions of the law. An employee at common law has a right to withdraw his labour, the only tool he can use against the employer, the only commodity they are selling to the employer.

Mine workers are saying enough is enough. Kusiri kufa ndekupi. They are producing Gold and other precious minerals, but they continue to leave like paupers.

Kindly write to us within seven days hereof and update us on how you would have resolved the issues, not proposals, but resolutions. Failure we will be unable to control the mass, and a nationwide strike will commence, lawfully. ENDS//

FOSSIL Mines’ offer to acquire 76,45% shareholding in cement maker, Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe will be supported by local banks, pension funds and wealth managers as the mining firm moves to consolidate its performance in the sector.

Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe’s stake owned by Associated International Cement Limited (AICL) — a member of the multinational conglomerate and Swiss-based Holcim Group — will now be owned by Fossil which already has several mining ventures across Zimbabwe. Fossil Mines is a subsidiary of Fossil Group — a company with interests in construction, road works and agriculture.

The Lafarge deal is expected to run into tens of millions of United States dollars. However, officials remained mum on the figures involved in the transaction, saying more details would be released soon.

“Fossil’s offer is backed by support from local banks, pension funds and wealth managers. Fossil engaged local financial advisors, and commercial attorneys to act on its behalf on the bid as well as Cliff, Decker and Hofmeyer of South Africa to act as its transaction advisory team,” Fossil told the Independent. But the disposal of Holcim’s Zimbabwean shareholding follows prior divesting of the cement giant’s shareholding in the Northern Ireland, Zambian and Malawian markets.

The Zimbabwe Independent also understands that the Holcim Group is in the process of disposing of its Indian cement business.

Details obtained this week regarding the Lafarge transaction show that cement conglomerate Holcim Group first announced on January 25, 2022 an intention to dispose of 76,45% shareholding in Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe. This is part of Holcim’s strategy to divest from the cement manufacturing business as has so far been done in Ghana and Brazil in a transaction reported to have raked in about US$1 billion.

After the January announcement, Holcim then invited interested bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOI) to its financial advisors, Absa Corporate and Investment Banking in South Africa. Absa is one of the biggest financial services groups in South Africa and in other 11 African countries with a total asset portfolio of a jaw-dropping R1,4 trillion and a staggering 60 000 workers.

However, following the evaluation of expressions of interest on March 1, 2022 Holcim then invited potential suitors to submit binding offers of interest for the acquisition.

Consequently, five firms were selected including Chinese giant Huaxin and Fossil Mines, among others. The companies were chosen for the acquisition via an auction system and as part of evaluating the bids, Holcim invited the bidders to South Africa for negotiations. The Lafarge transaction negotiations between Holcim and Fossil were held in South Africa between May 28-30, 2022 wherein Fossil’s offer to acquire 76,45% of Lafarge Zimbabwe was accepted pending further due diligence of the asset (Lafarge) and regulatory approvals.

Fossil said: “Should Fossil takeover Lafarge, the planned strategy is to maintain the company as a listed business and also recapitalise the cement maker, leading to an increase in the cement output from the plant. Currently, 40% of Zimbabwe’s cement requirements are imported, an opportunity that Fossil wants to capitalise on by providing the market with readily available cement.”

Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe acting company secretary Arnold Chikazhe, in a cautionary statement this week, said Holcim has entered into an agreement with Fossil Mines for the acquisition of the 76,45% stake.

“The transaction, if successfully concluded, may have a material effect on the company’s securities. Accordingly, shareholders and members of the investing public are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the company’s securities until a full announcement is made,” Chikazhe said.

Lafarge, which employs over 800 people, has a 60-year-old presence in Zimbabwe and is well known for making cement, aggregates and dry mortar. The company experienced a major setback on October 11, 2021 after a mill plant roof collapsed, affecting operations between October 2021 and mid-February 2022.

But Fossil has committed to increasing output to ensure cement availability on the market.

A FACT-FINDING visit by parliament to resource-rich Muzarabani has been planned in the wake of disruptive mining activities triggered by haphazard land planning in the area.

The impending visit to Muzarabani, which will jointly be undertaken by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committees on Environment and Mining, comes a year after the government banned all mining activities in the area, which lies within the Great Dyke minerals belt.

Last year, mining firm Afrochine Smelting, which is constructing a steel plant in the country, approached the courts seeking an order to bar Earthlink from extracting chrome in the Mavhuradonha Wilderness — an extensive wildlife habitat designated as a protected area.

Muzarabani South House of Assembly representative Size Tapera told the Independent this week that the imminent visit by Parliament to the area, which borders Guruve, was to ascertain “what is really happening”.

“These activities (disruptive mining) are taking place on the Guruve North side but of course at the border with my constituency. I understand the portfolio committees on mining and environment have been briefed on these activities and visits are going to be done there so as to ascertain what really is happening,” Tapera said.

At the time of going to print, the dates of the scheduled visit had not been revealed.

In a separate briefing with the Independent this week, Guruve South legislator Patrick Dutiro attributed the chaotic mining activities in the area to a disorderly land planning framework.

“It is a complicated issue brought about by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the local authorities whose boundaries are not clear. There is no proper land planning on the part of the government and the local authorities,” Dutiro said.

“Most of the parks were established during the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) era and they constitute about 33% of the country. There is a need to have a relook at how we can make use of a third of our country.

“We need a national consensus on all our parks. Hwange National Park is the size of Belgium and what are we getting from it in comparison to its size?”

He said the Great Dyke has always been at the centre of global discussions due to its importance to superpowers angling to gain a foothold over the terrain.

The Great Dyke constitutes, the “Persian Gulf of Strategic Minerals” — a term which was popularised at the height of the Cold War when a United States Congress Committee highlighted US intentions to gain control of minerals of geopolitical significance strewn over Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, and Zambia.

“People are peddling propaganda against the Chinese. Western countries have a huge interest in the Great Dyke and they are hiding behind the conservancy,” Dutiro added.

In recent times, mining investors and environmentalists have been at loggerheads over the area in whose belly lies a lucrative mineral treasure trove while an array of wildlife roams on the surface.

The Independent