A researcher at the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), Joyce Nyamukunda expressed concern over mines which are extracting resources and yet not giving back to the communities nearby.
Speaking in an interview with Bhizimusi.com at the Global Tax Justice for Women’s Rights meeting in Harare last week, the researcher revealed that women in mining communities are negatively affected by poor service delivery in those areas.
“You will find that where there is mining we expect that mining proceeds… will be channeled towards development in mining communities but this is not really the case and it’s really affecting women who are mainly impacted when there is no service delivery because they are the ones who bear most of the work that really needs service delivery,” Nyamukunda said.
The ZELA researcher also said that women are travelling long distances to get services which sometimes mines provide for workers and not accessed by the community such as clinics.
The researcher also discussed on mine taxes which are also not benefitting communities near the mines.
“When we are talking about issues to do with taxes you find that where there are natural resources across Africa there is competition with regards to tax incentives,” Nyamukunda said.
“You find out that there are quite some tax incentives that are given to mining companies which at the end of the day cost communities or nations where the mining is taking place because they are not benefitting.”
“In other areas, in other instances, you will find that there are quite a number of issues whereby mining companies will evade tax which at the end of the day affect how services are being delivered at the local and the national level,” Nyamukunda went on.
Zimbabwe’s New Dispensation, in a bid to lure more investment, amended the Indigenisation Act to only remain in diamond and platinum The act ensured that communities would get shares from mines for development.
“We talk about the roads, we talk about schools, it’s mainly women who bear this impact when these services are not really available in these communities,” Nyamukunda said.
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