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Hwange Local Brick Moulders In Limbo

Brick moulding businesses in Hwange face marginalisation from big local projects. Image by The Citizen Bulletin


BY CALVIN MANIKA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | OCT 18, 2021

After years of unregulated operations, brick moulders in Hwange are yet to realise the full benefits of being registered entities.


HWANGE (The Citizen Bulletin) — Herbert Moyo can now operate his brick moulding business without concerns about arrests by the Hwange Local Board, Zimbabwe Republic Police, and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), characterised by hefty fines and confiscation of equipment.

Some brickmakers decided to register their businesses after years of unregulated brick moulding at Empumalanga sewer in Hwange. However, this win has come a bit late as profiteering in the industry has proved to be a hurdle.

About four cooperatives were recently given land and permits to do brick moulding business near the place commonly referred to as 5 miles under the Hwange Rural District Council.

A lack of a local policy to empower the locals, Chinese investors interested in the Sino-Hydro project for expanding the Hwange Thermal Power Station have constructed and begun to operate a brick-making company running under Zimbabwe Zhing-Zhong Brick Plant.

Ostensibly, the plant is at 5 miles, the same area the locals have been earmarking for years.


Hwange brick moulding cooperatives are not benefiting from various big projects in the coal mining town regardless of being legally registered.


The megaprojects include the Hwange Thermal Power Expansion project and other Chinese related projects. Locals who have organised themselves into cooperatives to break into the brick making market seem to be hitting a wall. Locals involved in the projects have remained paupers, a situation exacerbated by COVID-19 successive lockdowns.

Lack of support by the government has been another setback to the local projects. To isolate the locals, the Sino Hydro Company, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) partner at Hwange Power Station, obtain their bricks exclusively from the Zimbabwe Zhing-Zhong Bricks and, most of the time, imports from China.

Hwange Rural District Councillor for the Lukosi ward Ishmael Kwidini says they are eager to support community developments as local leaders.

“We wanted the people to have a registered place so that they can do business safely without disturbances. We want our people to have more opportunities in terms of personal and community development,” says Kwidini.  

Greater Whange Residents Trust Coordinator Fidelis Chima says the registration of locals to mould bricks is a welcome development.


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“It’s good for the Hwange Rural District Council to regularise and issue out brick moulding licenses, especially to small scale locals. However, we are concerned by lack of solution at Empumalanga sewerage,” says Chima.

Many people involved in brick-making are wallowing in poverty due to a lack of meaningful profits in the business. Member of Parliament for Hwange Central Daniel Molokela laments the exclusion of locals in the tenders at big companies in Hwange, casting doubt in the inclusion of the brick moulding cooperatives despite their registration.

“The truth is that the small medium enterprises are being excluded. There should be a clear policy. The system is favouring international companies from China and big companies from Harare. We are calling upon the government to come up with a clear policy that makes sure locals benefit. We are very unhappy with it,” says Molokela.

The Greater Whange Residents Trust shows concern for the continued marginalisation of locals in big projects in Hwange.

“Sadly, only a few politically connected locals benefit from tenders from companies operating locally, and we hope to push that more local people benefit soon,” says Chima.


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