Investment in any sector takes confidence for the investor to contemplate on working for any project even though there is a clear picture that the structure to be worked on has encouraging outcomes, negative intuition by Zimbabweans has been branded as one of the reasons why investment in the coming sector is at its lowest when the government is pushing a narrative that encourages investment in the sector.
Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga
Participation of citizens in day to day running of government business should take the foremost protagonist stance to improve transparency and investment environment in the country. The citizens of Zimbabwe are investing in dubious businesses instead of making an upturn into the mining sector or the agriculture sector to advance industrial growth.
The perception and attitude by most Zimbabweans on laughing and resigning in wait and see attitude when news of government deals with other countries are at the forefront of being announced is more dangerous and needs to be addressed.
The apathy of citizens is very treacherous to the future of the country, this is how a few individuals mainly foreigners are left to loot because it is them that structure and influence mining policies without the people of Zimbabwe moving in to show their disaffiliation in new policies the government always introduces willy-nilly.
It is of paramount importance for Zimbabweans to show interest in every deal the government sign on behalf of the citizens of Zimbabwe, showing interest is a good start and then interrogate the parties in the deal, demanding development and results the country craves for.
For example, people laughed when the current President announced oil and gas reserved in Muzarabani. It was of uttermost importance for the people to investigate the possibility and viability of the information considering the fact that exploration in the area was at its initial stages, Invictus Energy and Exploration, the company operating in the area has now confirmed good source potential for gas and liquids generation.
It is important to note that, if the area is rich in oil, the country has no plans on who should get a prospecting license on the land and what Invictus Energy and Exploration is getting for carrying out exploration of the rich gas claim, there is a possibility that ordinary Zimbabweans will not benefit anything from the oil and gas from Muzarabani even residents who will be affected by mining operations on the oil and gas concession.
It, therefore, becomes important for the citizens of Zimbabwe to advocate for the opening up of mining agreements to public scrutiny and must not be treated as sacred information so that development and growth in the mining sector should be realized.
There should be a community or all stakeholders participation in negotiating mining agreements because they are on the receiving end of the mining activities.
The wait and see attitude on things of national growth is a blow to both local and international investment, it attracts bogus and unscrupulous investors leaving genuine investors in doubt and fear of investing in an industry or country where more people are pessimistic of the future.
