Sandawana Mine is building new homes and providing basic amenities for 104 families being relocated from areas under Chiefs Mahlebadza and Mudavanhu in Mberengwa Central to make way for a US$4 million lithium processing plant.
The relocation programme includes the construction of four-roomed houses with kitchens and toilets, fenced homesteads, boreholes and solar power connections, as the mining company seeks to accommodate families affected by the project.
Mberengwa District Development Coordinator, Vafios Hlabati, confirmed the relocation exercise.
“The relocation exercise is currently underway, and is going on very well,” Hlabati said.
Residents who spoke to this publication who include Mberengwa Rural District Council Chairman, Garisikai Moyo, said the affected families were satisfied with the arrangements.
“The houses are decent, the affected families and traditional leaders are satisfied with the relocation arrangements,” said Moyo.
Besides providing housing and water infrastructure, Sandawana Mine is organising irrigation schemes to support the families’ livelihoods at their new homes.
Chiefs Mahlebadza and Mudavanhu, whose areas are affected by the development, have also had houses built at their homesteads.
The relocation arrangements also provide benefits for village heads who have offered land to accommodate the displaced families, with each receiving one cow for every family taken in.
Families who opted to move to urban areas instead have had residential stands purchased for them at Jeka Business Centre, Mataga and Mberengwa.
The US$4 million lithium processing plant is under construction and forms part of Sandawana Mine’s broader mining and processing operations in Mberengwa.
