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Youths in the Midlands Province who had benefited from the reopening of Gaika Mine in Kwekwe have appealed to the ruling zanu-pf party to assist in resolving an ownership wrangle, which has stalled operations for two weeks.

The revolutionary party, through Mbizo Member of Parliament, Cde Vongaishe Mpereri, facilitated the reopening of the mine, which created jobs for hundreds of youths.

Operations at the mine were halted after Mr Carrel Hendrick Meyer approached the High Court arguing that the operations were illegal.

When The Herald visited the mine site last week, thousands of youths were milling around the mine.

They said the reopening of the mine had given them hope since it had created jobs for them.

“You know, many of us have no jobs and when we heard that Gaika Mine, which has been closed for a long time has been opened, we came here and we were incorporated in groups and we had just started operations, said one of the youths. We were then told that the operations should stop, so we are still confused as to what is going on.”

Another youth, Mr Jairos Manjere, said the ruling party should help them continue with the operations at the mine.

“As you can see, hundreds of youths had been incorporated into the mine and we have been working,” he said.

Mr Manjere said they were in the process of taking their ore for milling when the order to stop the operations was given. — Herald Reporter.