Gamma Mudarikiri
29 December 2011
THE Zimbabwe Miners Federation is up in arms against Rural District Councils (RDC’s) over levies charged on small scale miners. ZMF CEO Wellington Takavarasha said charges by the RDCs, which fall under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, are not uniform across all the districts.
In an interview with businessdigest, Takavarasha said there were discrepancies in the charges where Hurungwe RDC charges US$4 800 a year as council levy, while Mutare RDC was charging US$1 000 annually. This, Takavarasha said, was out of touch with the operations of the small scale miners who also have to pay a 2% presumptive tax to government.
Takavarasha said that small scale miners are actually in need of capital funding in order for them to maximise their operations. He said they faced power cut challenges, a situation which was hampering their operations.
He said his organisation had engaged the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority on a deal to reduce power cuts.
Operations of small scale miners will continue to be dragged following a recent proposal by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Mines and Mining Development presented to Cabinet to hike mineral exploration fees by up to 1 000%, starting in January next year.
Although there is a proposal that will see small scale miners being charged less than the established mining houses, stakeholders said they would not afford this, adding the current fees of US$400 were too high.
Small scale miners face financial constraints because they cannot access funds from traditional banks.
The miners said they cannot access special mining lease incentives granted to parties that can invest in excess of US$100 million in a project.
Takavarasha said small scale miners were marginalised and labelled with derogatory terms like “makorokoza” despite their significant contribution to gold and chrome proceeds.
He said there were no mining incentives for small scale miners, a situation which was further hampering their operations.
In his 2012 budget, Finance minister Tendai Biti proposed to set aside US$1 million to assist small scale miners, particularly those in gold and chrome mining. This, he said, would capacitate the miners.
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Zimbabwe: Miners Federation Up in Arms Against RDCs