The population of the Nhampassa region, in the Bárue district of Manica, invaded a tourmaline mine in protest at the failure of mining company Sominha Limitada to comply with its social responsibility agreement..

According to a publication in the newspaper "The Country"The complaint has been going on for almost three months, when the local community decided to invade the tourmaline mine, claiming that the mining company has not kept its promises to develop the area where it is located. At the time, the protesters said they had received a notice from the district government to leave the mine, but they refuse to comply.

The list of social responsibility actions of the businessman known as Nadat includes the construction of ten houses a year, but since 2007, when he started operating, he has only built five houses so far, and the work has stopped at the finishing stage.

Meanwhile, the Barué district administrator condemns the people's act, but confirms that the businessman in question sold his district's population a cat for a hare.

"Actually, I think they invaded for that very reason (to implement social responsibility actions), he wasn't looking out for anyone, he was looking out for his life. So people reacted. We'll hear by Sunday whether or not they're going to leave. If they don't, we'll talk to them again. We always want to negotiate so that we don't do things by force," said David Franque, Báruè's administrator.

(Photo DR)