Mashwest Deputy Provincial Mining Director (PMD) Junior Mudyawabikwa and former surveyor Robson Farayi Chinanayi have been apprehended by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) for allegedly extorting US$5000 from one Mr. Mombeshora. The alleged extortion was purportedly aimed at expediting the processing of a Mining Certificate, shedding light on the underlying issues within the mining bureaucracy.
The duo appeared before Chinhoyi magistrate Rumbidzayi Tshuma, who remanded them in custody until today for a bail ruling.
Experts say the root cause of such incidents can be traced to the protracted timeline for issuing Mining Certificates in Mashonaland West. The primary impediment is the significant delay in processing applications, a bottleneck attributed to a lack of administrative capacity.
At present, Mashwest is grappling with approximately 13,000 pending mining title applications.
