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Government has since established more than 60 Community Share Ownership Trusts (CSOTs) throughout the country to enable communities to directly benefit from the exploitation of their natural resources. Some communities are already enjoying the fruits of the CSOTs that are providing funding for a number of development projects.

Companies exploiting resources in given areas have either pledged or given seed capital to the trusts that are now implementing development projects using the money. According to Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Deputy Minister Mathias Tongofa, close to $40 million has so far been availed to the trusts by the different companies.

Some of the companies that have fully honoured their pledges are Zimplats, Unki Mines and Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC). Some of the companies have paid a fraction of their pledges while others are yet to release the money.

The Tongogara Community Share Ownership Trust which received $10 million from Unki Mines, has already funded a number of development projects that include construction of a primary school, dams, bridges and has rehabilitated road networks in both rural and resettlement areas. The trust is already inviting tenders for the construction of a vocational training centre in the district.

Similar projects have been undertaken in Zvishavane, Gwanda and Mhondoro-Ngezi. Deputy Minister Tongofa said the trusts had a combined balance of more than $23 million after spending more than $14,6 million on projects meant to improve the people’s welfare. He said apart from funding community projects, trusts were expected to invest some of the money to boost their revenue.

Under the Community Share Ownership Scheme, companies are supposed to cede 10 percent of their shares to the community which will then use proceeds from the shares to fund development projects such as construction of schools, clinics, bridges, roads and other such projects.

The government and qualifying businesses agreed that in order to kick-start the trusts, companies should provide seed capital hence some companies have paid the money which has seen some trusts funding development projects. A total of $134 million has been pledged by qualifying businesses and it is our fervent hope that all the companies will honour their pledges.

We are however cognisant of the fact that many companies are facing serious financial challenges given the economic environment they are operating under but this should not be an excuse for denying communities their share of the national cake. Companies that have fully honoured their pledges are not operating in a different environment but all they did was to prioritise the payment of the pledged money.

We therefore want to salute these trailblazers and urge those that are yet to honour their pledges to do so in the shortest possible time so that communities in areas they operate can also benefit from exploitation of their natural resources.

The government, we want to believe, has put in place mechanisms to ensure the trusts funds are not abused. There were reports of rampant abuse of funds by those appointed to run the trusts soon after the launch of the trusts. In Zvishavane for example, the committee appointed to run one of the trusts was paying committee members sitting allowances in advance and it is our hope that this anomaly has since been addressed.

We want to once again implore companies to honour their pledges so that the trusts can fulfil their mandate of uplifting the people’s livelihoods.