Domboshava- A Tale of Mixed Fortunes
Compiled by Tonderai Murape
Domboshava lies 30 km north east of the capital Harare,it falls under the Goromonzi Rural District Council. Administratively it’s also known as Goromonzi West.it is comprised of 8 wards of a mixed settlement that is rural community, per-urban residential, commercial farms, high and low density residential as well as mining community.
Ward 6 has 17 Wards are predominant of gold mines. The gravel roads leading to the mines are impassable. Big mines like Mistress Mine is found in the same ward and area. The discovery of minerals in any community is usually viewed as a blessing that will bring positive change to the community in terms of development. This however has not been the case in Domboshava ward 6 where minerals are plundered daily while there is nothing in terms of development.
Despite the availability of the precious yellow mineral in the area, the community remains impoverished. Due to the poor state of the roads, transport is a problem with people having to walk up to 8km to the main road to get transport to town. The gospel of corporate social responsibility is alien to the mining companies in the area since there is nothing on the ground to prove otherwise. Equally the local schools in the area have not been spared by underdevelopment in any way, apart from poor and old infrastructure the schools are under resourced and overpopulated.
Domboshava Community Development Trust [DCDT] a community-based organization recently joined the Publish What You Pay-Zimbabwe chapter. PWYP is a coalition of Civil Society Organisations, Community Based Organisations and faith-based organizations. The organization’s vision is to see a transparent and accountable natural resource sector that benefits local communities and the national economy in a sustainable manner. DCDT chairman Tonderai Murape was upbeat that the program of transparency and accountability being championed by PWYP will in a great way compel mining companies to publish what they are paying to the local authority which is Goromonzi Rural District Council and government .‘This will indeed enhance accountability and help develop our communities which have suffered years of plunder said Murape’
Speaking at their strategic end of year meeting held recently, PWYP National Coordinator, Joyce Machiri bemoaned lack of will by mining companies to publish to the public their contributions and urged empowered members of the community to demand transparency and accountability from the mining companies.