Ward 17 councillor, Sikhululekile Moyo, has expressed concerns about residents’ ‘underhand’ engagement with management from Hualin Quarry Mine in Pumula where they secretly solicit for perks while openly protesting about its presence in the community.
The councillor disclosed this during a stakeholders meeting convened Tuesday by the Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) that seeks to build trust and strengthen accountability between communities, government and other stakeholders.
Pumula residents have complained that the Hualin quarry mine is failing to deliver on its pledges of rehabilitating roads and doing social responsibility.
In her remarks, the councillor voiced her displeasure with people’s conflicting actions, saying they complain to others about the mine without revealing what they would have gained after secretly seeking benefits from Hualin.
“We are not receiving information in full because residents go individually or straight to the mine but complain they don’t want the mine yet ask for assistance from it without even passing through me as the councillor sometimes,” Moyo said, citing instances where residents independently approached the mine for assistance.
“There are individuals with challenges in communities, mostly leaders who were sick or have challenges and the director was assisting them with money. The challenge is he was not recording those things down.”
The councillor said some of the beneficiaries would inform her after visiting the hospital that they would have received money for medication.
“This is because there was no order from the beginning. No one could manage how we should handle it,” said the councillor.
Despite agreements stipulating that residents should channel requests through section leaders or resident associations, Moyo lamented the lack of adherence to established protocols.
“We had agreed that anyone who wants anything from Hualin Quarry Mine should go through section leaders and residents associations, who come to me as a councillor but all of that hasn’t been happening. Everyone has been going to the mine willy nilly,” Moyo said.
Moyo cited instances where sponsorships were extended to organisations without her knowledge, underscoring the need for improved communication and accountability mechanisms between stakeholders.
“There were sponsorships that were also given, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) was doing soccer tournaments and it was funded by Hualin without telling me , so I won’t know all the benefits but things are happening,” she said.
She emphasised the importance of transparent and orderly engagement between residents and the quarry mine to ensure equitable distribution of benefits and effective community development initiatives.
Moyo acknowledged that schools had also approached the mine for assistance.
“Last week I saw a letter from a school in Magwegwe that asked and were given something, so I can’t say all the benefits because I don’t know them. Pumula High School received a quarry and they put it at their school,” said the councillor.
She said the Hualin has also donated water kiosks to the community.
“The mine also put a water kiosk at Babambeni Primary School. There is another one which is still at the quarry mine and the council hasn’t collected it. The council has been slow in collecting water kiosks but the company was willing to put the weather kiosk in all high lying areas which struggle to receive water. The council hasn’t finished installing the kiosks and the company can’t continue giving us to lie idle,” Moyo said.
She said when it comes to social responsibility, Hualin Quarry Mine has given food hampers to about 300 families taking care of people with disabilities.
“The previous year, Hualin gave hampers to 80 families staying with the elderly and the sick,” Moyo said.
The councillor stressed that, while the quarry mine may provide material for road rehabilitation as per its pledge, road maintenance is the responsibility of the local authority.
