INDIAN counsular secretary in Harare Rakshpavl Malhotra pulled a shocker on Wednesday when he unexpectedly confronted Mines minister Obert Mpofu over the stalled Essar Africa Limited (Essar) deal.
Report by Taurai Mangudhla
Malhotra was leading an Indian delegation comprising the country’s Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion representative Anup Zaveri and Confederation of Indian Industry deputy director Anjula Solanky seeking to invest in Zimbabwe’s lucrative diamond mining sector.
In response, Mpofu told Malhotra that his office was following cabinet directives and worked closely with other state departments and referred all questions to Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube.
“Some of us spend a lot of time fighting to defend our resources and we will not allow a situation that has no mutual benefits,” said Mpofu. “I mean we all agree that you can’t get an acre of land in India without meaningful justification. The ball is now in his (Ncube’s) court because we have played our part,” Mpofu said.
Malhotra’s inquiry follows a Supreme Court ruling last week throwing out Rodreck Mumbire’s court challenge following the transfer of some of the iron ore claims owned by Buchwa Iron Mining Company (Bimco) to Essar.
Soon after the Supreme Court ruling, Ncube told businessdigest the legal issue surrounding the mining claims had been one of the hurdles delaying full consummation of the Essar deal.
“We are in the process of bringing finality to the issue and are hopeful that within the next few weeks there will be timelines for when everything will be completed,” said Ncube. “Those are some of the things that have been delaying us on this deal but they fall under the jurisdiction of the ministry of mines.”
The deal, worth an estimated US$750 million, was sealed in March 2011, resulting in Ziscosteel being unbundled into two companies, NewZim Steel and NewZim Minerals.
The residents of Redcliff are not privy to the goings on between government and Essar over their fate. A few priviledged ones get bits and pieces from the media. We hear there is a part to be played by Mines and another by Industry and Commerce. Fine, but are these organs aware that the grass is burning in Redcliff. Is it not curteous for the ministers to personally present themselves to the people of Redcliff the same way they do come elections and explain what is going on? Redcliff is an orpaned constituency and surely there is need for gap filling. The dearth of information has left people guessing. The void has to be filled one way or another otherwise we expose the community to abuse.
They will discuss and loot but it is the common man in Rutendo, Torwood and Redcliff as well as Kwekwe who are suffering. We have households without power and water for 5 years yet tyhese guys take years to give these Indians the greenlight to do the Ore Mining. Who does not know that Mpofu has girlfriends who earn an average of USD10 000 a month for licking his small stick? Who does not know that the Chinese are giving Mpofu USD10Million each month being protection fee to steal the diamonds. afterall the Manicaland Zanu Pf chairman is about to say it all…heads will row..Elections are coming let’s see who is to be sacrificed soon…kkkkkkkkkkkkk
So what else is new?
Hope the Redcliff residents will remember everything during election time, Zanu protecting its corrupt officials instead of their livelihoods.
I can understand the frustration of the people in Kwekwe and the surrounding areas. They all depend on Zisco/Essar. However, if we allow desperation to inform our decisions we will sell our resources for a song.I understand that Essar came in to buy Zisco not because they want resuscitate the operation but rather with an eye focussed on the iron ore deposits in Buchwa. They want to build a pipeline fromBuchwa to Beira to push through raw iron ore to India for further processing. They have no intention to restart the Zisco plant. That explains why the government is now dragging its feet after initially agreeing to the deal. They only got wind of this piece of information after signing the MOA. So while we want the process to move on we have to tread carefully otherwise we will find ourselves with egg in face. Let us not allow the politics of the stomach to cloud our judgment.
Agree
I think this is a very big false hope by these Indians
I come from redcliff and I nw start to understand we may nt get our zisco back
With this self importance gvtmnt
Yes. What Petros is saying is true. The Indians have no intention of resustaining Zisco. They have been given the go ahead and handed over all keys and mines that Zisco used to operate. The workers at Zisco know about this. Government and everyone else was however, not aware that Welshman had sold out the iron ore reserves in Chivhu belonging to Zisco through their subsidiary Buchwa. The reserves are estimated to be worth over $100 billion against $750 million which Essar has not paid a cent but will pay through a presold contract of less than 6 months supply of iron ore from Chivhu. As it is Essar is funding its current afministration costs including negotiation costs bribes etc through a loan from CBZ which is secured using Zisco steel assets. Thats the Indians and your learned professor for you. This is treason at its worst. It is with such kind of deals that one is forced to say the hell with this look east policy these guys are blood suckers. MaBritish are a far much better devil. Indians and Chinese have no messy no wonder Amin kicked them out of Uganda like dogs. For the people of Zisco you should call for the termination of discussions with Essar & going back to the market preferably in the West. It may need waiting after electiond and revisiting of the indiginisation laws. But on the other hand Chamabhebhi Save was saying he is willing to turn a blind eye and let the robbery go ahead. Yet this could our saviour. I would encourage readers to google the established iron ore reserves in Chivhu in a report done by a professional SA consultant firm on behalf of Mittal Steel and Zisco. Then compare with Australia’s annual earnings of $54 billion from iron ore exports alone.Add diamond and platinum potential wow!
If what Petros is saying is correct I personally agree with him. Yes people are suffering, this is due to government officials who do not do their work but are more interested in how much the investor is willing to pay to them as kick backs. Yes, when deals of this nature are discovered to be fraudulent they must be revised if not cancelled. I suggest that when the MDC comes to power towards the end of this year all large investments approved in the past 10 years should be looked at and all those that are found to be flawed should either be renegotiated or cancelled. The wealth of certain people including but not limited to Chombo and Mpofu should be looked into. Since we are going Chinese, all public officials found to be corrupt should be jailed at best or shot at worst. The police force will require an overhaul, what we currently have is not a police force but an extension of a party. At best the top brass should be gently eased out and replaced with people with atleast 2 A-Level subjects who are to be properly trained and made conersant with human right laws. As it is today, a policeman is not a civilian’s protector or friend, it is a real pity and this has to change. The police force must regain the respect and glory it used to have.
This Essar deal is fishy and i think some bigwigs are stalling it becoz havana kudya, i passed thru Redcliffe a few years ago and i cried seeing wat used to be Zisco just lying idle there!!! Lets do this for the common person plizzzzzzz!!!
This iron ore looting dimension must be explained to the public by Welshman or Obert. Why are they quiet? See, when people say Zimbabwe is leaderless at the moment they are right.