Murowa Diamond Mine in Crisis- power cut off as it...

Murowa Diamond Mine in Crisis- power cut off as it battles to pay 2024 salaries.

Runodada Witness

ZimNow reporter

Murowa Diamond Mine in Zvishavane has stopped operations following a switch off by the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company on Wednesday January 8.

This comes soon after the company indicated that it is unable to pay all outstanding 2024 salaries as far back as October.

Workers at the mine confirmed to Zim Now through phone interviews that although they turned up for work today (January 9), they don’t know when operations will resume.

“Power was switched off by Zesa yesterday. So today there is nothing going. No one has explained what’s next,” said one worker.

A source high up in the mine chain revealed that the bill is now at US$4,5 million.

“The debt is longstanding. The mine repeatedly failed to meet its obligations for the payment plan,” the source revealed.

The source said that the mine has serious cash flow challenges after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority garnished Murowa’s accounts for unpaid PAYE taxes.

Workers at the mine revealed that this blow might be too difficult for the diamond miner to recover from as their welfare standards have been deteriorating since September 2023 when director Hapal died in a plane crash.

“We got that circular saying part of October and November pay checks would come on January 3, 2025. Now that power has been cut off we don’t know if we will get anything else,” said a worker.

The mine had pledged to assist qualifying workers with school fees and ensure that those with salary-backed bank loans can meet their obligations.

Some local contractors for Murowa have also downed tools over non-payment of their dues over several months.

Workers said the landscaping and cleaning companies are on industrial action and Fawcett security pulled out over the same reason leaving the company to engage an unknown player.

Efforts to get a comment from Murowa Diamond Mine failed. PR person Tsitsi Taruvinga referred this reporter to group spokesperson Gwatiringa. Gwatiringa had not responded to written questions by the time of publication in spite of promising to do it more than 12 hours before.

As of December 2024 Murowa had 689 workers.