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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 42117, member: 636"] Zimbabwe's Ministry of Industry and Commerce will hold a meeting next week in Chinhoyi. Officials want to restart Community Share Ownership Trusts after Cabinet agreed to bring them back. These trusts help local people benefit from natural resources in their areas. Dr Thomas Utete Wushe leads the ministry and spoke to lawmakers about the plan. Cabinet gave his team three weeks to create a working plan for the trusts. The meeting will happen at Chinhoyi University of Technology on June 17th. Parliament members can join and share ideas about how to rebuild this important program. Dr Wushe said helping local Zimbabweans earn money from their natural resources follows the country's constitution. Companies that mine or extract resources must make sure nearby communities get benefits. Officials finally see this as a serious way to help people and build industry. The government created 60 trusts back in 2013 under old laws. Only seven trusts actually work right now. Plans call for fixing the other 53 trusts before the year ends. Officials want to have structures ready for them before August ends. Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu promised Cabinet all trusts would work again before December. A new Empowerment Bill sits with the Attorney General's office waiting to become law. Parliament will debate it after it gets published officially. Information Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere explained Cabinet's approval during a press meeting last week. The government will review how trusts work and help struggling ones recover. Officials also plan to write clear policies and rules for managing trusts better. Mining companies must give 10 percent of their shares to these community trusts. Profits from this arrangement should pay for local projects like roads and health clinics. The money can also build schools and bring clean water to communities. This system ensures people living near mining operations share in the wealth created from their land. [/QUOTE]

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