Parly urges dialogue to tap into National Railways of Zimbabwe mineral assets in South Africa
THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development has urged the Government to proactively engage its South African counterpart to facilitate exploitation of National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) mineral rights across an area of 1,7 million hectares.
The claims were donated to the railway companies of the then Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) by Cecil John Rhodes.
South Africa was later incorporated into the ownership structure following the formation of a company called Pan-African Minerals Development Company.
Appearing before the joint parliamentary committees on Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Transport and Infrastructural Development in June, NRZ general manager, Ms Respina Zinyanduko, said some issues have to be resolved between Zimbabwe and South Africa to enable the exploitation of the claims.
Each shareholder owns 33,3 percent and the mining rights cover about 1,7 million hectares, which have vast mineral deposits.
These include manganese, limestone, platinum, copper, iron ore, lead, uranium and diamonds, among others, she said.
Cde Knowledge Kaitano
“These are being managed under a company called Pan-African Mineral Development Company. This company has been facing some challenges and we have been trying to engage South Africa and the South Africans are not forthcoming,” she told the committee.
PAMDC was created in 2007 to take over the mining concessions previously owned by ZIZA, a group that was jointly owned by the railway companies of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The creation of PAMDC was essentially to incorporate South Africa into the ownership rungs of the entity after the South African government laid claim to ZIZA’s concessions under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (of 2004), which vests all mineral rights with the state.
The under-performance of the NRZ has had wider ramifications for other economic players in sectors such as industry, mining and agriculture as firms have shifted their bulk business to costlier haulage trucks.
Haulage trucks
According to the committee’s recommendations submitted at the recently held pre-national budget seminar in Bulawayo, committee chairman, Cde Knowledge Kaitano, said the parastatal needs to upscale partnership collaborations.
One such way is the issue of pursuing mineral rights.
“Implore the Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to vigorously engage the South African government to finally exploit its mineral rights from 1,7 million hectares of mineral resources, which Cecil John Rhodes jointly bequeathed to NRZ and Zambian railways,” said Cde Kaitano.
In his presentation, Cde Kaitano said one of the pillars in the resuscitation of the Zimbabwean economy is NRZ. He said the approximate demand for rail transport currently sits at 10 million tonnes.
NRZ can carry 4,8 million of this but it cannot carry more.
He acknowledged efforts by the Ministries of Transport and Finance in securing US$100 million to recapitalise NRZ with RITES of India through a bank loan. The loan will be used to buy some locomotives and 300 wagons.
“However, NRZ needs 4 000 wagons and 370 locomotives (mainline and shantie). It will still need about US$500 million to continue its recapitalisation exercise.
“Therefore, NRZ should continue pursuing funding from international financiers to recapitalise itself and be able to meet market demand for bulk transportation,” said Cde Kaitano.
NRZ General Manager Ms Respina Zinyanduko
He added that the railway firm has to continue with its regional partnership with CFM of Mozambique as well as Botswana Railways towards establishing a seamless regional rail network.
“These regional partnerships have already yielded good results after Mozambique railways provided materials towards removing cautions on parts of our rail network. However, Treasury still needs to provide funding for the removal of cautions to the other part of the rail network not covered by the CFM deal.”
Cde Kaitano noted that in the short term, NRZ should continue engaging local mining companies as well as other business investors to establish local public-private partnerships (PPPs) that inject capital towards refurbishing the available locos and wagons to meet the current demand for rail transportation.
The company is seized with the mobilisation of funding and implementation of its strategic plan, which aims to grow the rail sector sustainably and promote rail as an environmentally friendly mode of transport.
In recent years, NRZ has been hard hit by a lack of funding, obsolete equipment, vandalism, and mismanagement accusations, which negatively affected the business.
The parastatal has been knocking on the doors of many potential investors, pitching various investment projects in an attempt to modernise its service and operations.-chronicle
