Johannes Chin’ombe
GWERU: ‘Suspended’ Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) President Henrietta Rushwaya seem to be calling shots from prison at the association after a team supposedly loyal to her managed to stop a special general council meeting that could have confirmed her suspension in Gweru this Tuesday.
The drama surrounding the suspension witnessed a supposed special congress to endorse her sanctioning from the association turning to be a preparatory meeting for the annual general meeting (AGM) to be held later in the year.
Rushwaya was suspended by the ZMF management board which consists of members of the national executive, the council and regional representatives following her arrest at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on allegations of trying to smuggle 6kg of gold to Dubai.
A letter signed by the secretary of the General council Philemon Mokuele had invited the general council members to a special general meeting but it turned out the letter was legally defective prompting Rushwaya’s team to raise their concerns resulting in the stoppage of the said meeting.
Part of the issues raised is that the members of the Federation had not been notified on the agenda of the said meeting prior to the required 14 days requirement while the convenor of the meeting is said to have jumped the gun since he was not qualified to perform such duties.
ZMF Secretary-General Morgan Mugawu confirmed the anomalies that rose from the initial meeting resulting in his team cancelling proceedings.
“When the meeting was called it was called special general council meeting. It was an error to call the meeting as such a special general council meeting is not called for by the general councillor and yet it was supposed to be done by myself as the secretary general though the national executive.
“Since our miners had come through our chairman, we decided to turn it into a preparatory meeting for our last quarter in preparation for our AGM and this was also done through our acting President Mr Marufu Sithole.”
The meeting eventually came up with a number of pressing issues they feel should take the centre stage in improving mining operations in the country on their Annual General Meeting to be held on the 11th and 12th of December on a venue to be advised.
