THE government has been challenged to intervene and stop human rights abuses, forced displacements and environmental destruction linked to Magunje cement and mining projects in Mashonaland West province.
In a statement this week, the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) flagged the project being developed by Labenmon Investments, in partnership with West International Holdings.
CNRG said public reports indicated that the two companies had invested US$1 billion to construct a cement plant in Magunje, with a production capacity of 900 000 tonnes of cement per year, and 1,8 million tonnes of clinker, supported by a 100 megawatt captive power plant.
The project is expected to generate 5 000 jobs.
“Following growing distress calls from the community CNRG visited the area and documented overwhelming evidence of land dispossession, intimidation, pollution and labour exploitation in the name of clean energy and development.
“The community is disgruntled while government officials in the area display extreme indifference to public concerns. CNRG is also reliably informed that one of the two Vice-Presidents wrote to local authorities, endorsing the project without consulting those to be affected,” CNRG said.
“These abuses are not isolated. They reflect a wider pattern of corporate impunity, enabled by weak regulatory oversight and elite collusion.”
The organisation said the use of threats and repression as well as criminal abuse of office by senior government officials was causing distress among rural communities throughout Zimbabwe.
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“This is undermining rural livelihoods as communities are forced to accept projects that pollute their environments, grab their water and land, and in many cases displace them without compensation,” the mining and minerals watchdog said.
“Families have been uprooted and ancestral graves bulldozed to make way for mining infrastructure, without due process or compensation.”
It said the community was excluded from legally-required village-level consultations.
“A cancelled ward-level meeting is now being falsely used to justify operations. Eight villagers from Kapere, including the headman, were arrested for protecting their land and are repeatedly appearing at Karoi Magistrates Court, despite the absence of the complainants,” it said.
“Magunje Dam, a vital source of water for thousands of residents, is being polluted by effluent discharged from the cement plant. Farmlands and gardens have been destroyed by fire ignited by the company during a land clearing exercise, worsening food insecurity.
“Workers operate under unsafe conditions, political discrimination, lack of contracts and low wages that are pegged below National Employment Council agreed rates.”
CNRG demanded that the Mines and Mining Development ministry halts the operations and ensures accountability, further demanding immediate suspension of Labenmon Investment’s operations in Magunje.
“Authorities must protect community rights and interests to ensure communities are compensated for their losses, protect the rights of workers and safeguard the cultural heritage of the affected communities,” it said.
“The ministry must ensure inclusive decision-making and facilitate inclusive stakeholder engagement in decision-making, ensuring that affected communities have a meaningful voice in the project’s development. Communities must not be forced to give consent under duress.
“The Magunje case is a clear warning that Zimbabwe’s extractive boom risks becoming a new form of dispossession unless the government steps in decisively to protect its citizens.”
