By Rudo Saungweme

Miners in the mining sector have commended the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI) for creating a platform for mining communities to convene and share their ideas and experiences.

Speaking at a Mining Indaba held at Holiday Inn in Bulawayo today, a Miner, Jane Muzvezve praised ZAMI and said that as Miners they could now come together through the ZAMI platform and share what they go through and come up with solutions for their challenges.

“ZAMI has been a helpful platform for mining communities as we can now convene and share our experiences. We can now manage to come up with solutions of how to deal with problems that we face in our respective communities,” said Muzvezve.

Another Miner from Gwanda, Duduzile Masilela commended ZAMI for empowering them with knowledge of their rights as Miners.

“ZAMI has empowered us with knowledge of our rights. We can now petition to our local leaders on issues that affect our mining community,” she said.

Peter Ngwenya who is a Miner from Zvishavane also commended ZAMI indicating that it remained a critical platform for advocacy.

“ZAMI remains a critical platform for advocacy and critical engagement for the benefit of all,” he said.

In line with Section 13 of the Constitution on National Development, the ZAMI`s key objective is to capacitate and empower citizens to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of policies that enable sustainable socio-economic development hinged on mineral wealth.

The ZAMI is an annual multi-stakeholder engagement platform on mineral resource governance which brings together communities affected by mining activities. These stakeholders range from Government, Church, Civil Society, Business, Academia and the Media.