The Sunday Mail
Itai Mazire
ZIMBABWE could benefit from rich mining deposits that formed part of Cecil John Rhodes’ estate after Government clinched a tripartite deal with its neighbours South Africa and Zambia.
In his will, Rhodes stated that the Federation of Rhodesia Railways — consisting the rail operators of Zimbabwe and Zambia — should benefit from mineral deposits along rail networks in South Africa.
Located in South Africa’s Eastern Cape and North-West provinces and covering about 1,7 million hectares, the mining claims include deposits of diamonds, gold, uranium, iron ore, manganese and other minerals. Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Dr Obert Mpofu last week said he recently met his Zambian counterpart and South Africa mining officials and agreed to undertake the project under the Pan African Mining Development Company (PARMDEC).
Zimbabwean geologist Mr Kosmas Chenjerai is the chief executive of PARMDEC, formed by the three countries to implement the project.
Dr Mpofu said PARMDEC engaged an exploration company whose primary findings indicate that the mineral deposits are worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.
“The Railway Federation ran a joint railway operation which Cecil John Rhodes used to acquire some of his assets.
“He said in his will that the land covering over one million hectares should belong to the Federation’s railway companies. So what it means is that we jointly own the minerals with Zambia but because the project is in South Africa, we have involved the South African government to be part of the initiative,” he said.
Dr Mpofu said the countries agreed to rope in investors to fund the project.
“A few weeks ago, the three of us (ministers from Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa) met to deliberate on how best we can exploit the minerals to benefit the three countries. At the indaba, we agreed that a secretariat made up of experts from the same countries should identify investors.
“We are proud that PARMDEC’s managing director (Mr Chenjerai) is a Zimbabwean geologist and he will be overseeing those issues,” said the minister.
He said the ministers would decide how to share proceeds from mining on behalf of the shareholders of PARMDEC. The shareholders are the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Zambia Railways Limited and African Exploitation Company of South Africa.
Minister Mpofu said after Independence in 1980, NRZ and the Zambia Railways shared assets owned by the Federation of Rhodesia Railways, on the basis of their physical location.
These included a hotel in Victoria Falls and several other properties.
To address sharing of mineral rights, the two formed Emerged Railway Properties but its mandate collapsed after South Africa amended its mining laws in 2008 and removed the concept of mineral rights. The two countries then engaged the South African government, leading to PARMDEC’s establishment.
