Mayor, councilor Blessing Tandi is facing public backlash for granting license to a Chinese mining company without following due process including consulting residents.
Tandi, has been singled out for misleading city fathers together with suspended acting Town Clerk Dr Anthony Mutara to sign the largely secretive deal with Freestone Private Limited.
Sections of civic society and residents are now pushing for redrafting of the annual lease agreement set at US$7 500,00 following engagements with town planning, confirming that council had no documents to show compliance by the miner.
Speaking during a public stakeholder engagement organised by Information Development Trust and United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Trust (UMRRT), residents are now calling for a new deal.
UMRRT director, Edson Dube said residents and ratepayers are perturbed by the paltry resource rents that will be paid by the miner without any clear model of sustainability.
He said council is complit in the illegal deal as the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) report shows that only a few residents were consulted for both the certificate and report before investment initially commenced.
“We feel that the community was not properly consulted before the project started, this is the general agitation from the community.
“We need the lease to be redrafted to address the social license, we need guarantees that the operations of the mining company will not affect the lives of residents in the city.
“Corporate social responsibility issues are also not catered for in this deal, and having done comparative analysis we see no set program to ensure the community will benefit from the mining investment,” said Dube.
Farai Maguwu executive director for Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), said council should preserve seentimental value of the mountain in an ecologically sensitive area,nclose to residential and education institution as it affects socio-economic heritage of the city.
Source: All Africa
