Mining Investments Fail To Bridge The Widening Inequality Gap In Hwange

Quasi administration of the coal mining town is affecting the growth of the district. Image by allAfrica

BY LETHOKUHLE NKOMO | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | FEB 15, 2022

Hwange is run by the Hwange local board and coal mining companies. This is seen as playing a role in influencing inequality as there is better service delivery in the latter.

HWANGE (The Citizen Bulletin) — Mary grabs along her tattered sun hat with a big verandah to protect herself from the scorching Hwange heat as she leaves her home to Lukosi government hospital.

It is a Wednesday afternoon, and in her handbag is a lunch box and ice bottled water.

The hospital is 10kilometres away from her residence, a journey that Mary travels weekly to collect her Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARV) supplies.

Mary prefers Lukosi hospital for her ARV supplies because other medication she may want is affordable, but only when available, compared to the privately run Hwange Colliery Hospital.

“I stay very close to the Hwange Colliery Hospital but prefer to walk to Lukosi hospital where I can afford all the other medical attention I need though there are always shortages,” Mary says, and preferred not to disclose her surname to protect her identity.

The Hwange Colliery hospital is owned by the Hwange Colliery Company.

Mary is not alone in preferring Lukosi hospital because of inequalities as the majority of residents in the mining town cannot afford quality services offered at the privately owned hospital.

Hwange boasts of many investors eying its coal fields, but the investment has widened the inequality gap with the mining sector taking a slow governance transformation.

Inequality is a concept very much at the heart of social and economic justice.

With the emergency of a global pandemic COVID-19, inequality in Zimbabwe has increased.

Across the globe, COVID-19 has left a legacy of rising inequality and poverty.

“When I first joined the colliery in the 1970s, the town was lively. But nothing much has changed since then; we still have the Edmand Davis Hall, the tennis courts, the number two houses  with only difference being that the houses have deteriorated,” says Micah Smith, one of  the residents who has seen better days of the Hwange Colliery areas.

The Mines and Mineral Act of 21: 05 has remained unchanged since its promulgation in 1961. The Act is limited in scope and does not provide for sustainable, social and economic development.

Malvin Daka of the Vostile Creations Trust says there is a need to amend the Act to promote development, and equality to uplift communities.

“The community of Hwange is saying, ‘yes we are seeing investors coming but at the same time we are seeing a poverty stricken community,” Daka says.

“The mining Act needs to be amended. We are saying let’s tax the rich, meaning the investors, so that the money which is taxed can be used in the provision of social services such as the health sector.”
Malvin Daka, Vostile Creations Trust

Hwange public hospitals groan under a myriad of challenges - critical staff are absent, essential supplies are generally unavailable, facilities are inadequate, and the quality of staffing is poor.

Hwange district hospital, 5-Miles structures were condemned by the government for being substandard.

Residents are forced to buy medication at private pharmacies where prices are pegged in the United States dollar, and beyond reach of many.

In contrast, the private HCC run private hospital is state of the art providing better services, but at a cost of not being affordable by the majority.

“Those who can access medical help from this institution are either colliery workers and their dependents or anyone who is just financially advantaged,” says Daka.

The setup of Hwange of dual administration where there is a concession residential area and another run by the Hwange local board has played a role in influencing inequality, he argues.

Residents have often cried foul over the quasi administration of the coal mining town, a development they argued is affecting the growth of the area.

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Hwange urban is run by four authorities namely Hwange Colliery Company, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Power Company and Hwange Local Board.

However, these areas are represented in Council by councilors though the local authority does not service the area. Seven out of the 18 wards under HLB are under private companies.

“These are some of the reasons why the community of Hwange is saying let's do away with dual administration, and have only one administration to provide for the residents equitable,” Daka adds.

Greater Whange Residents Trust coordinator, Fidelis Chima says the limited decision making power of the council is ineffective and affects service delivery.

“Under dual administration, people under concession areas are not consulted or included in development issues. The citizens under the concession area do not participate in the Hwange local board budgetary process,” Chima says.

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