Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Honourable Walter Chidhakwa has commended the Midlands State University for imparting mining knowledge to mining communities along the Great Dyke.
Addressing participants and representatives from mining companies located along the Great Dyke, during the launch of Tour de Great Dyke, at Great Dyke Investment on the 29th of August 2017 in Darwendale, Hon. Chidhakwa said Midlands State University’s role in unlocking the value of the Great Dyke is expected to enhance economic growth in the country. He also urged personnel from mining companies to take advantage of University’s Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering programmes to further enhance their professional skills.
Tour de Great Dyke, a brainchild of Zvishavane based radio station, YAFM seeks to promote and disseminate knowledge about the Great Dyke to various communities over and above creating a unique platform for miners to interface with different stakeholders in the mining sector.
Speaking during the launch, Mr L. T. Senderayi, a lecturer in the University’s Faculty of Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering highlighted various minerals found along the Great Dyke, which stretches from Mutorashanga to Mberengwa. He also noted, Midlands State University’s core functions, saying, ‘a university does three primary things, we teach so that people ultimately get their degrees, we create new knowledge through research and the third area, which is why we are here is engagement, we engage with our communities’. In the case of the latter, Mr Senderayi said, the concept of community engagement is meant to ensure that MSU is part and parcel of the communities it serves and not merely an ivory tower.
Also speaking at the same event, Minister of Sport and Recreation, Honourable Makhosini Hlongwane, thanked Midlands State University for taking part in the tour and giving back to communities.
The tour saw cyclists starting from Darwendale and passing through Chegutu, Kadoma, Kwekwe, Gweru and Shurugwi before finishing in Zvishavane. The tour, which ran from the 29 August to 2 September 2017 under the theme ‘Mining; Opening Financial and Investment Floodgates in Zimbabwe’, came to a glittering end on Saturday the 2nd of September with various stakeholders taking part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for Jairos Jiri Old People’s Home. Fifteen (15) MSU students took part in the 7km walk from Siboza Business Centre to YAFM Radio Park to raise funds for a worthy cause.
Tour de Great Dyke was launched in 2016 and has become an annual event that brings together cyclists from different mining houses that include Mimosa, Unki, Hwange Colliery and Zimplats.