SHANNISE DZOBO
MASVINGO – Green Governance Trust, a non governmental organisation operating in the country which focuses on environmental issues and natural resource rights has held a stakeholder meeting in Masvingo.
The meeting concentrated on women and youth empowerment in view of vast lithium deposits in Masvingo Province especially at Bikita Minerals which are believed to be the biggest in the country.
Green Governance Trust director, Frank Mpahlo told The Midweek Watch that the symposium focused on women and youth empowerment and was aimed at equipping them with knowledge and critical information around energy transition agenda which is happening globally and also locally.
“The meeting we held in Masvingo was mainly focusing on women and youths that are in the mining communities (lithium mined communities) aimed at equipping them with knowledge and critical information around energy transition agenda which is happening globally and also locally”, said Mpahlo.
“Lithium as a critical mineral in the country and globally therefore, Zimbabwe as one of the countries that has large deposits of lithium it has become a country of interest with many investors wanting a piece of what we have but the communities are usually left behind if these mining companies take control of the natural resource hence we need to get the challenges that are being faced by these communities so that as an organisation we are able to push for energy policies that empower and protect them as communities”.
Mpahlo went on to say that Zimbabwe does not have a framework that regulates the mining of lithium hence the need to lobby for value addition of the mineral and also to have women and youths join the Government on action plan to mitigate the effects of climate change.
“Apart from the law that was put in place by President Mnangagwa on the issue of exporting lithium ore as a country we need a framework that regulates the exporting and mining of lithium and also to encourage women and youths in these communities to be part of the climate action plans by the Government and be able to lead in these projects for the betterment of their communities”.
Darlington Muyambwa the programs manager of Southern Africa Resource Watch also mentioned that the program was also to have a clear insight of what is affecting the mining communities from social and economic issues monitor the issues at hand.
“This training workshop literally gave us an insight on what is affecting the women and youths living in the mining areas so that we get an opportunity to monitor the challenges and chip in where we can as organisations”, said Muyambwa.
In attendance were community representatives from Bikita, Goromonzi and Mutoko amongst other organisations.
