MANAGEMENT at Shabanie Mashaba Mine (SMM) led by administrator Afaras Gwaradzimba has come under fire from workers for allegedly clandestinely selling houses to FBC Bank, Midlands State University (MSU) and Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) ahead of workers, some of whom are being evicted.
The employees’ representatives, the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers’ Union (ZDAMWU), told The NewsHawks that management was not only short-changing the workers but also dabbling in questionable practices.
Shabanie is owing workers substantial amounts in salary arrears. The company has offered the ex-workers houses and residential stands to offset the arrears.
“Workers who reached retirement – from the date of retiring – started to accrue rentals and some have been evicted. Their money is now so little to buy the offered houses. These workers were owed money, and were told to stay in the houses until their money is paid. There is no explanation how the employee suddenly becomes a lodger in a house that he or she was given as an employment benefit. We suspect this was done to push out workers so as to accommodate outsiders,” ZDAMWU general secretary Justice Chinhema said.
Chinhema said SMM management did not sell properties as per the recommendations of the valuators.
“After valuation by three estate agents, namely Dawn Real Estate, Central Real Estate and ministry of Public Works, SMM management did not sell the houses or properties to outsiders using the values as recommended by the valuators,” he said.
“For instance, looking at the properties sold to FBC, MSU and GZU, you can find that the same houses sold to these three went for US$10 per square metre while to the workers they were being sold at US$25 per square metre. This is corruption,” Chinhema said.
He also said workers were being offered unserviced stands.
“Stands being offered to workers have not been serviced at all but they are being charged from US$2-US$25 per square metre to workers. The mentioned institutions are buying the stands at US$7,” Chinhema said.
“This, I believe, is being done to make sure the poor workers end up owing the mine. Where would a retired worker get the balances ranging from US$2 000 to above US$20 000?
“Gwaradzimba and his management gang is stealing from the poor under the guise of settling salary arrears.”
Gwaradzimba refused to comment on the allegations.
“I appreciate the way you have gone about identifying yourself. However, I do not consider it proper that I go about publicly discussing SMM matters in the manner expected from the questions you have texted to me,” he said.
“If SMM is negotiating with relevant parties to its reconstruction, as to how certain issues need to be handled, it would be best to allow those negotiations or discussions to proceed without outside interference. I hope you agree with this position.”
Chinhema said the scheme was also skewed, given that houses in high-density suburbs where a lot of workers stay – such as Mashava, Maglas and Kadondo – were being sold for between US$15-US$25 per square metre.
In low-density areas such as Hillview, Noelview and Birthday, prices were peggwd around US$10 per square metre.
Chinhema said in Mashava the houses were all pegged at US$10 per square metre regardless of whether they were in the low-density or high-density surbubs.
“This scheming was done to accommodate Great Zimbabwe University which now has all the houses. Inhabitable and condemned houses in King Mine are now being offered to workers. Stands that are not serviced are sold to workers at the same rate. Workers are being evicted from the houses they have stayed in for all their working life and given a stand in a mountain,” Chinhema said.
SMM workers are also pushing for Gwaradzimba’s ouster, through the courts, for failing to turn around the fortunes of the asbestos giant for the almost two decades he has been at the helm. The workers filed a court application on 17 May 2021.— STAFF WRITER.
