14/11/2006
Zimbabwe has sent a delegation to South Africa, in a near-impossible mission, to stop the southern African country from placing a ban on white asbestos imports from the country, the Financial Mail has reported.

The delegation is led by Munyaradzi Hwengwere, former spokesperson to Zimbabwean leader President Robert Mugabe, who is quoted as saying he is in South Africa to save the livelihood of communities around two asbestos mining towns in central Zimbabwe.

The weekly magazine reports that Hwengwere is hitting a brick wall as he tries to explain that there is internationally proven evidence that, because chrysotile fibre, or white asbestos, is different in structure and chemical composition from its blue and brown siblings, it is not a health or environmental threat.

Hwengwere was quoted Friday as saying the asbestos mines are threatened with closure in the wake of the ban, due to a powerful lobby comprising of South Africans local asbestos manufacturer, Everite which is said to have invested substantially in technology to produce safe alternatives and that Zimbabwean cheap exports threaten its industry and trade unions who are said to be protecting the health of their members.

Hwengwere is said to be distributing a self-produced DVD on the environmental safety of white asbestos and has reportedly invited the South African environmental committee to inspect more than 70,000 medical records compiled over a period of 40 years on the communities surrounding the Zimbabwean mines.

The Financial Mail quotes South Africans environmental affairs deputy director-general Joanne Yawitch saying the ban will go ahead. She is quoted saying 'the difference between white asbestos and the brown and blue kinds is simply that it kills you more slowly'.

Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party holds a major stake in Shabanie and Mashaba mines through Turnall Industries, a Harare listed company, and the company has been a cash cow for the foreign currency starved government.

South Africa consumes 40 percent of Zimbabwe's production, which is used mainly for roofing low-cost houses, lining of brake and clutch pedals of heavy vehicles and for high temperature seals.

Hwengwere is quoted as saying the closure of the mines would place over 100,000 people into poverty. But the mines are said to be in financial turmoil anyway following periods of government raids and confiscation of foreign currency. The government, in 2004, also booted out former owner, Mutumwa Mawere, through a political coup after accusing him of not being a Zimbabwean, a move which analysts say was motivated by the lust for the foreign currency the mines generated.

Dual citizenship is outlawed in Zimbabwe. Mutumwa has since acquired South African citizenship and has been accusing the government of using profits from his mines to pay off an IMF loan.

Zimbabwe is the world's fifth largest producer of white asbestos, after Russia, Canada, China and Brazil. Earnings from the industry in Zimbabwe topped US$40 million in 2005 through exports to over 50 countries around the world, the major export destinations being the Far East, Middle East and Africa.