PWYP Zimbabwe participates in the countrys 3rd Alternative Mining Indaba publishwhatyoupay.org/resources/pwyp-zimbabwe-participates-countrys-3rd-alternative-mining-indaba Source: PWYP Zimbabwe Date: 2 Oct 2014 Publish What You Pay Zimbabwe participated in the 3rd Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe from 24-25 September 2014. The Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI), hosted by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association, was held under the theme ‘Communities Aloud! Fighting Corruption to Promote Transparency and Accountability’. The ZAMI is an annual event that is part of the continental movement sparked off at the Alternative Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa to create an alternative platform for mining affected communities to discuss mining impacts and engage with stakeholders such as government and mining companies on their own terms. The event is a result of the realisation that communities in mining areas often have very limited public platforms within which to influence public policy and decision making processes related to mineral resource exploitation. The theme on fighting corruption to promote transparency and accountability resonated with the Publish What You Pay Vision and its ‘Chain for Change’ whose pillars call on mining companies and government to; ‘Publish Why You Pay’, ‘Publish What You Pay’ and ‘Publish What You Earn and How You Spend’. These pillars are all anchored on the need to ensure that all processes related to mining are open to public scrutiny and public participation. PWYP Zimbabwe organised and facilitated a panel session on ‘promoting transparency and accountability in the mining sector’. The panel featured presentations on illicit financial flows, the ActionAid’s Tax Justice Campaign, research on fiscal transparency in Zimbabwe’s mining sector, corruption in the mining sector and the PWYP Campaign. In addition to the hosts, the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), PWYP Zimbabwe members that attended the meeting included; the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust; Transparency International Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development and the Centre for Natural Resources Governance. The PWYP East and Southern Africa Coordinator, Carol Kiangura, also attended the meeting and spoke on the Publish What You Pay Vision 2020. She outlined some of the key campaign issues for PWYP. These include campaigning around understanding the natural resource endowment in a country; influencing a legal and fiscal regime that promotes transparency and accountability; playing an effective watchdog role over mining contracts and licences; monitoring mining projects to ensure adherence to contractual obligations; ensuring that mining companies publish payments to government; monitoring whether or not mining revenue is reaching state coffers; influencing mining revenue spending priorities and monitoring the de-commissioning of the project. Other members of the coalition gave presentations on artisanal small scale mining, corruption and issues of involuntary displacement and non-payment of fair and adequate compensation. Farai Maguwu of the Centre for Natural Resources Governance spoke of the need to regularise and formalise artisanal small scale mining given that criminalising the sector has been ineffectual and the leakages particularly in the gold mining sector have meant that the country is not fully benefitting from its mineral resources. Farai Mutondoro of TI-Z gave a presentation on corruption and stated that it is inhibiting all citizens from benefiting from the country’s mineral resources as it has been endemic, political and bureaucratic. He advocated for capacity building, increased resourcing and increased independence for anti-corruption bodies as a strategy to ensure that this scourge is addressed. Lastly, Melanie Chiponda, the Coordinator of local community group, the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust raised concern on the fact that communities relocated from the Marange diamond fields are yet to be given adequate compensation and that social amenities at the relocation site, particularly education facilities, are woefully inadequate to cater for all the relocated families. She bemoaned the fact that there is no specific law or policy that provides adequate guidance on how relocation should be carried out. The ZAMI was a huge success and was attended by over 200 participants that included local community members from mining areas, the media, government representatives, mining companies, civil society organisations and the church. The participants at the ZAMI developed a declaration which calls on government to; Adopt the Draft Minerals Policy that was formulated in 2013 Formulate a new Mines and Minerals Act and a Diamond Act, both of which must have clear provisions for protection of local community rights including property rights, environmental rehabilitation/reclamation; and transparency and accountability Expedite the processes to decriminalise, regulate and support artisanal small scale mining Adopt the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative as stated in previous successive national budget statements Put in place mechanisms to ensure government does not lose out due to tax holidays and/or incentives and to enforce the ‘arm’s length’ principle in-order to curtail tax avoidance by multi-national corporations PWYP Zimbabwe looks forward to participating in the next edition of the ZAMI.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 07:49:39 +0000
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