Zimbabwe Prospectors Association (ZPA) is demanding audience with Mines permanent secretary as they lament over non-inclusion as key stakeholders in deliberation of Mines and Mineral bill of 2015.
In a letter dated February 17 seen by this publication, ZPA president Samson Dzingwe said his organisation is not happy because their concerns were excluded although they are the key stakeholders who were vocal against the bill.
“We are disheartened to learn that the returned Mines and Minerals bill 2015 has been deliberated in all stakeholders meeting in Kariba excluding , precluding ,sidelining us though we are key stakeholders who participated most against this bill last year in Parliament and submitted our concerns which were never adopted or included in the bill.
“Thus we ended up writing to his Excellency asking him not to sign the bill into Law ,” he said.
Dzingwe further said the prospectors are not only responsible for property rights, but for other concerns which therefore resulted for the rejection of the bill to be signed by the President.
“We understand besides property rights , farmer-miner issues and artisanal small scale farmers , prospectus issues are issues to deal with our concerns and are reasons why the bill was rejected by His Excellency because our issues were ignored,” he said.