Tendai Kamhungira
in VICTORIA FALLS
AN ENGINEER in the Mines ministry says lack of competence by small-scale and illegal miners has resulted in several deaths in different mining areas across the country.
Presenting a paper during the ongoing 59th National Conference on Safety and Health at Work, being hosted by the National Social Security Authority in Victoria Falls, engineer Wilson Maenzanise said according to available figures, 49 fatalities were recorded, of which 27 were a result of fall of ground, while nine were caused by gassing and 13 were shaft accidents.
Maenzanise’s presentation focussed on accidents and environmental issues in the informal mining sector and the way forward. “One of the major issues causing these accidents is lack of competence levels. It’s easy to get a mining claim… you just need to be a Zimbabwean.
“As long as you have got your identity card, you can get a mining claim and when you get a mining claim, you think of your relatives. These relatives just come and they don’t have any mining experience or safety knowledge. They have just been called. We have recorded many fatalities as a result of that,” Maenzanise said.
He revealed that last year the country lost 71 registered miners, while 51 illegal miners also died due to different accidents. “This year, to date we have recorded nine fatal accidents on the illegal miners and 10 on the registered miners.
On the fatalities, we are sitting on 58 on registered miners, 49 on illegal miners. On serious accidents, we have got 18 on registered miners and nine on the informal miners,” he said. Maenzanise said lack of proper mining methods, gassing and fall of ground, were some of the major causes of deaths in mining sites.
He added that the Mines ministry was currently embarking on an exercise to educate informal miners on safe mining methods. In 2020, six illegal miners, including four from one family, were trapped underground when a mine collapsed in Matshetshe, Esigodini in Matabeleland South Province. During the same year, five artisanal miners were also trapped underground when a shaft collapsed at Task Gold Mine in Chegutu.
Maenzanise also said seven people recently lost their lives in Matabeleland South after practising unsafe mining methods. Many artisanal miners have failed to take heed of warnings by authorities to desist from mining in disused mines as they have the potential to collapse anytime due to pressure or water saturation.