TAFADZWA Muguti, Presidential Affairs and Devolution secretary, has alleged possible corruption in the licensing of a Chinese firm to undertake a multi-million-dollar cement project in Magunje, Mashonaland West province.
The project, which also includes a power plant, is billed to hit US$1 billion and touted as a poster child of rural industrialisation.
Speaking at a joint meeting of Zanu PF’s provincial coordinating committee and the provincial development committee on Thursday last week, Muguti lashed the Environmental Management Agency (Ema) for issuing an EIA certificate to Labenmon Investments, despite the Chinese firm lacking title deeds for the land.
“Ema, I don’t know what came over them — maybe they were given some ‘sugar’ to turn a blind eye,” Muguti remarked, suggesting possible corruption in the approval process. “They made a big mistake.”
Muguti said the company did not have a registered address, raising suspicions about tax compliance.
He said the absence of a Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency licence further indicated that the company might not be contributing to national revenue, adding that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission was probing Ema over the issuance of an EIA certificate to the Chinese firm.
At the centre of the dispute is fierce resistance of villagers to the establishment of the plant near Magunje Dam, their source of water. They argue their water source will be polluted.
They say the issuance of the EIA certificate was fraudulent, since no consultations were held in the area on the impact of the cement plant on the community.
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How did we get there? The process was not done according to the book.
Authorities hurried the process, leading to mistakes that have stalled the multi-million-dollar project.
The villagers say that they are not against the project, which will transform Magunje and the surrounding areas. They are against the railroading of such a venture, disregarding established policies and laws.
We cannot pontificate about rural industrialisation when the source of water for 10 000 residents is polluted, nor do we talk of development when villagers lose their grazing land and they have nowhere to go.
Development must take into cognisance the winners and losers. It is not a one-way street.
There are unanswered questions.
How do you explain that an EIA was issued with villagers saying there were no consultations held in their area?
Why did the firm continue with the project despite a High Court order to halt work pending determination of the company’s breach of the EIA certificate after it expanded into villagers’ grazing land?
These questions are best answered by the fact that the investor in question was riding on the coattails of politicians or senior officials in government.
It’s not enough for an investor to say they have been authorised by minister X to undertake a project.
They must conform to local laws, regulations and policies.
Politicians and senior government officials who “manufactured” this crisis must bury their heads in shame.
