Community success stories: Tracking service delivery and environmental issues

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Funded by the European Union (EU), the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) is building the technical capacity of community monitors to gather service delivery information and report on human rights violations and track service delivery in local authorities. ZELA is also facilitating learning and sharing by communities on monitoring service delivery and environmental issues in their areas and assisting Community Based Organisations (CBOs), to produce reports on social service delivery, compliance of mining companies with their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs), human rights and corporate social responsibility activities of mining companies, using publicly available information.

Community monitors ‘data has been used to inform their engagements with service delivery duty bearers such as local authorities, mining companies, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) as part of initiatives to hold them to account.

As one of its capacity building sessions for community monitors, ZELA recently held a two-day training workshop to assist Community Based Organisations (CBOs) understand the national, regional and international developments in line with tracking service delivery and monitoring resources allocation towards service delivery in their jurisdictions. During this session, CBOs shared their experiences. These are their stories:

Mhondongori Resources Community Development Trust – Zvishavane

As Mhondongori Resources Community Development Trust, we have been monitoring service delivery by mining companies through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programmes which enhance access to education through construction of classroom blocks, access to clean water through drilling solar powered boreholes and sharing of infrastructure such as raw water and the road network.

The company also assisted the community through a livestock revitalization programme which included artificial insemination, bulls and heifer donations to change breeds in their areas of operation. However, depressed metal prices have seen Mimosa reducing its CSR activities as a cost containment measure which also led to a labour rationalization exercise, targeting managerial and supervisory level employees.

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Despite the need to contain costs, continuous engagement has seen Mimosa starting to accept local enterprise development. The company has contracted Edzai – a women cooperative, Igegwe cooperative for war veterans and Mhondongori cooperative to construct fire guards around Mimosa mine perimeter fences and lease areas. In addition, the community can buy scrap metal from the company for resale and currently, a group of community monitors is buying scrap metal USD$150,00 per tonne and selling it at USD$260 in Msasa, Harare. This arrangement, where a merchant is given three weeks to collect and buy scrap in the mine scrap yard has changed some livelihoods as, over the three-week period, one can collect at least 30 tonnes of scrap and selling this at a USD$110 premium per tonne amounts to substantial household income, especially for women who have been sidelined in the mining industry.

We have also noted that solid waste management presents an opportunity to value-add metal by, for example, using a smelter to recycle mild steel into deformed bars, manganese into harmer mill beaters while aluminum into aluminum pots.All these efforts were made possible by various training we received from the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) that include community and service delivery monitoring.

Lessons learnt

  • Unprocessed scrap metal is voluminous and more costly to transport. Therefore, there is need to get further assistance with resources for setting out smelters to value-add scrap metal within mining communities.
  • To operate successful businesses, communities must regularize their operations and obtain necessary certifications. Thus, in Zvishavane, assistance is required to acquire cooper licenses to enter the copper value chain.

Story by Mazvihwa Community Women’s Forum

We are a group of women who completed a capacity building session on human rights conducted by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA). With the knowledge acquired, in 2019 we managed to form a forum of 50 women called the Mazvihwa community women’s forum. Through this forum, we started advocating for inclusion in the mining value chain and subsequently entered into tribute agreements with Sabi mine. 

Through these agreements, we mine gold and managed to buy two ball mills, however, production is still low due to slow processing. Our wish as a forum is to get a round mill which is enough for production.As women miners, we face challenges that affect our production. This includes being bullied by men, especially during gold rushes. We also grapple with operational challenges such as lack of equipment which leaves us with no option but to work with at times unscrupulous service providers.

 

For example, we do not have tanks for elusion and boilers so we must outsource these services, but this exposes us to dishonest people who can exchange or steal our carbons (sic).  

Despite these challenges, our journey towards total women emancipation and integration into the mining value chain continues. Our focus is to fully formalize our operations by registering our claims and professionalizing our businesses.

Community perspectives on the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance: A case of the Unki Mine audit

Shurugwi Development Trust

Through meetings facilitated by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), Unki mine embarked on a third party-audit process against the IRMA standard in 2019 that involved the Shurugwi community, scored IRMA 75 in the audit report[1]. In 2022, a surveillance audit for Unki Mine was done, communities shared their concerns with the audit firm SCS Global. This was after the mine publicly audited against the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) [voluntary] standard for Responsible Mining in 2019. ZELA, which is the only Zimbabwean member of the IRMA Civil Society Organisations global working group on worker and community engagement rights participated in development of data collection tools for communities such as the Community impact survey , IRMA Audits and Communities, sample letter to mining company, tools that can be used to monitor service delivery, engage with mining companies and government.   The IRMA processes have enhanced UNKI Mine’s relationship with the community, through the community engagement forum which meets quarterly to discuss the company’s mining operations in the community.

[1] https://responsiblemining.net/unki-mine-audit-report-public-summary-18feb2021/

 

Benefits of the Unki IRMA processes and audit to the Shurugwi Community

  •  There is now great improvement in the relationship and trust between the company and the community.
  • There is now an active quarterly community engagement forum meeting where 2 people were selected from each of the surrounding villages to represent the community. The relationship is promoting access to information which is enshrined in Section 62 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. 
  • In addition to the Community Engagement Forum, there is an emergency and response Coordinator which includes village chairpersons. 
  • The IRMA audit report is a source of information, assists in identifying gaps and strengths to improve our engagements with government through evidence gathering on mining operations and their impact on communities’ wellbeing, rights and the environment.
  • The IRMA audit reports assist us in carrying out our advocacy work and provides us with information to participate in national, regional and international dialogues such as Alternative Mining Indabas.
  • Unki mine funded 4 partners – Technoserve, World vision, Zvandiri and Apostolic Women Empowerment Trust (AWET) – to implement community development projects.
  • The company is capacitating women with knowledge on their health and empowering them to stand for their rights. It also encourages women in the apostolic sect to register and go for hospital deliveries.  In support, AWET also trains behavior change facilitators (BCFs) on safe motherhood.
  • Unki mine promoted hygiene in the community, building Double Blair Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines in ward 19 and part of ward 18 (now ward 4).

summary-18feb2021/

Partner Activities

ZVANDIRI

Training adolescents on the testing of HIV, case referrals and family planning methods. Zvandiri encourages couples and individuals to take Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) to reduce HIV transmission.

World vision

  • Introduced a Sustainable Transformation Educational Programmes_Unki Platinum (STEP_UP). This programme involved 21 (5 secondary and 16 primary) schools in Shurugwi. The organization also donated bicycles for students, books to all schools, funded solar mechanization, 100 tables and 100 chairs to each school, constructed two blocks for a selected number of schools and drilled boreholes.
  • World vision trained and empowered school leavers and dropouts on different courses such as catering, hairdressing, solar installation.

 Technoserv

  • Provided pea seeds to Shungudzevhu and Gutsaruzhinji irrigation schemes and buy the produce.  Technoserv also trained community members on cattle insemination to improve cattle breeds.

Recommendations

 There is need to assist community monitors with transport to move to different areas for data collection. Capacity building also needs to spread to the wider community.

Story by Gwanda Community Ecojustice Development Trust

Gwanda Community Ecojustice Development Trust (GCEJDT) conducted research to identify the impacts of Gwanda Lithium Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited’s mining and processing activities. The mine conducted an Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) which was aimed at describing the project, identifying, and analyzing possible environmental impacts associated with the operationalization of the project and the proposal for the mitigation measures of the project. The community had several complaints pertaining to the ethical implications and health hazards of the project. They raised several concerns, some of which were the possibility of exhumation of their ancestors’ graves, relocation of their homesteads, air pollution by dust, speeding vehicles and noise from blasting. Noting these concerns, GCEJDT, which has been monitoring Environmental issues in Gwanda and surrounding areas, then established a partnership with ZELA to identify and monitor the social and environmental impacts of the Gwanda Lithium mining project. Engagement meetings were conducted between affected communities, relevant stakeholders and interested parties.

Data was collected through meetings with relevant stakeholders such as the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), District Development Fund (DDF), Ministry of Health, Gwanda Rural District Council (GRDC) and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. There was also involvement of community members (ward 11), through the participation of traditional leaders, village councilors, religious leaders, and other community members.  

FINDINGS

Environmental Management Agency

The research established that the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) was aware of the EIA process. The Gwanda Lithium mining company communicated with the EMA through SUSTIGLOBAL, an environmental consultancy company. EMA granted an EIA certificate to the mine after reviewing the ESIA Report. To access quarterly reports being submitted by the Gwanda Lithium Mine, EMA advised GCEJDT to write a requisition letter to the Director General. These quarterly reports are meant to monitor the operations of the mine. EMA also pointed out that there have been several problems related to mining operations, one of them being a faulty tailings dam. The Environmental Management Agency advised the GCEJDT team to engage other stakeholders for further enquiries. The Agency also said they don’t conduct water tests and referred GCEJDT to Environmental Health Technicians at Ntalale Clinic.

Infrastructure Development Agency

The Infrastructure Development Agency (IDA) was not involved in the EIA process. However, they were notified of a DDC meeting involving all government departments. IDA indicated that Gwanda Lithium mine is destroying their road network and bridges. Among the destroyed bridges is Elliot bridge which links Sengezane River (Ntepe WIER) and Ntalale Bridge. IDA representatives said although the mine repaired the road network, it did so without consulting the authorities responsible for the road network and, thus, disregarded road specifications such as the traditional IDA dome shaped road design. Interestingly, despite the destruction of the road network by trucks that ferry ore from Mberengwa’s Sandawana Lithium Mine, Gwanda Lithium mine has lodged a complaint to the IDA about the state of roads linking the two mines. The department of Infrastructure Development Agent (formerly DDF) then implored on all parties to participate in road maintenance.

Gwanda Rural District Council

The Gwanda Rural District Council (GRDC) was aware of the EIA process, and they confirmed that they actively participated during and after the whole process. The council found that there was degradation of the road network due to heavy trucks that ferry lithium ore to the mining site. The GRDC said the mine developed a new road network which was meant to help curb pollution from dust. The CEO of the GRDC had little knowledge of the disturbances on the water bodies and he referred questions to ZINWA and the Shashe Catchment Area.

The council also confirmed that they were not familiar with the operation dynamics of the processing plant and the general management of the Lithium mining processes. They also said that the mine’s report did not mention that there were going to be some relocations but stressed that if there would be need for relocation, the office of the DDC would be the responsible authority. They referred GCEJDT to EMA and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development for the geographical boundaries of the claim and a map defining the Gwanda Lithium mine and the community.

ZINWA

Although the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) was aware of the EIA process and the commitments made by the mine, it highlighted that Gwanda lithium mine was fined for drilling boreholes without consulting the responsible authorities. ZINWA also indicated that the mine had 11 boreholes that could reach 120m depth which were drilled prior to the ESIA process being conducted.

The engineer said a meeting was held with all Government departments but no effective solutions being drawn from the meeting. He also referred GCEJDT to the Shashe Catchment Team who he indicated were directly responsible for the area buy also highlighted the fact that they had limited expertise on water testing and laboratory facilities.

GCEJDT engaged with the Shashe Catchment team which further exposed how the ESIA was conducted without their input. The team also pointed out the negative impacts drilling of deep boreholes including their effect on shallow community boreholes. They gave an example of the Mandihongola borehole which had dried up and could not continue serving the community. They also said that the mine conducts their hydro-geo surveys without consulting the ZINWA, the regulatory authority. The team complained that the mine does not register their boreholes and described their conduct as diabolic and bent in evading detection and monitoring.

The Shashe catchment area team said Gwanda lithium mine’s invasion of their catchment area left the regulating authority with no choice but to drill some boreholes to supply the community. The catchment area team said the conduct of the Gwanda lithium mine is not synonymous with other large mining cooperates like Blanket Mine which has 31 boreholes which are all registered with the Authority (ZINWA). The Shashe catchment area team mentioned that joint monitoring efforts by all stakeholders are necessary and requested to tag along on our monitoring tours. Thus, they bemoaned the lack of resources to enhance effective monitoring.

HEALTH

The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare was not aware of the EIA process. On the issue of water quality, the District Environmental Supervisor said that the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare does not perform water tests on large water bodies until there is a complaint from the community. However, the ministry noted that it conducts water tests on a quarterly basis and tests water from new boreholes before any consumption or commissioning. GCEJDT was then referred to the Environmental Health Technician at Ntalale Clinic for more information.

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