Women in mining seek financial assistance
WOMEN in various economic sectors have said they need Government to financially assist them so that they can positively contribute to the 2030 goal of a middle-income economy.
Speaking in an online executive dialogue on women’s contribution to Zimbabwe’s vision 2030 last week, Zimbabwe Miners Federation vice president and a chrome miner, Mrs Lindiwe Mpofu said access to capital and foreign currency was affecting women in the mining sector as well as the male counterparts.
“Access to capital and access to foreign currency affects the mining industry as a whole. There is a need for the banking sector inclusion as we are yet to see a lot of banks embrace mining as an industry that they will fund and make other programmes available as well. Some of the banks, Metbank and CBZ are taking initiatives towards miners but we still need more banks so that we have more access to capital and different types of facilities accessible by different miners,” said Mrs Mpofu.
She said chrome mining was capital intensive because of the machinery aspect, as well as for the gold and the semiprecious minerals, hence there was a need for financial assistance to encourage more women to venture into mining.
“We have brought before Government the issue of chrome pricing. I also sit as a consultative committee member of the Minerals and Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) and executive board member Zimbabwe Femcom chapter to try and make sure the issue of chrome pricing is addressed. Chrome miners are subjected to pricing as low as $12, hence it is important for the chrome miner as an individual to understand the worth of chrome and get the proper pricing ranges.”
Mrs Mpofu said there was need for the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to take action on the chrome policy as well as finishing off of the cadastral system and for Government to consider reorganising its department to have the services of the engineering and geology department reactivated within the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. She added that women in the mining sector were still facing challenges associated with discrimination.
Ayana Africa Travel managing director Mrs Tina Nyabonda-Mubwanda said more inclusiveness of women at the level of policy making and operating in the tourism sector was essential. She said the tourism as an industry was not an easy or cheap one to start as it was also capital intensive when it came to setting up lodges and any other infrastructure related.
“We need to see a lot of Government support in terms of funding smaller operators coming into the industry. Also, we need to see more information about our own country being available on more digital platforms so that the tourism sector can be boosted more on the platforms,” she said.
The Sunday News