News / Regional
Nkayi villagers acusse businessman of failing to recruit local labour
05 Apr 2013 at 17:56hrs | Views
A row has erupted between the Dakamela Community in Nkayi and Everberg Investments over the extraction of kaoline that is found in abundance in the district.
Villagers in Dakamela are accusing Everberg director Brian Magombedze of failing to recruit local labour to work at the mine as a way of ploughing back to the community from where the natural resources are coming from.
The matter came to the fore at a Zanu-PF rally held at Dakamela Business Centre in Nkayi where the villagers told the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr. Obert Mpofu, that they feel hard done by the company which they also accused of failing to build a factory in the district where the kaoline can be processed into finished products.
Magombedze said he tried to set up a factory in Nkayi for value addition but the stand he received from the Rural District
Council was in an area without electricity. He further highlighted that he took the matter to the Nkayi North Member of Assembly Sithembiso Nyoni for assistance.
Mpofu questioned why the matter was referred to Nyoni when she is an MP for another constituency.
He said the matter should be handled by the Constituency Development Committee in Nkayi South.
Magombedze, a mining engineer, began extracting kaoline at Dakamela Village in 2004 and his relationship with the community has been fluctuating between friendship and confrontation as the two parties continued to trade accusations at each other.
Kaoline is an industrial mineral used in the lining of furnaces and pottery among other things.
Villagers in Dakamela are accusing Everberg director Brian Magombedze of failing to recruit local labour to work at the mine as a way of ploughing back to the community from where the natural resources are coming from.
The matter came to the fore at a Zanu-PF rally held at Dakamela Business Centre in Nkayi where the villagers told the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr. Obert Mpofu, that they feel hard done by the company which they also accused of failing to build a factory in the district where the kaoline can be processed into finished products.
Magombedze said he tried to set up a factory in Nkayi for value addition but the stand he received from the Rural District
Council was in an area without electricity. He further highlighted that he took the matter to the Nkayi North Member of Assembly Sithembiso Nyoni for assistance.
He said the matter should be handled by the Constituency Development Committee in Nkayi South.
Magombedze, a mining engineer, began extracting kaoline at Dakamela Village in 2004 and his relationship with the community has been fluctuating between friendship and confrontation as the two parties continued to trade accusations at each other.
Kaoline is an industrial mineral used in the lining of furnaces and pottery among other things.
Source - zbc
