Ten miners buried alive in Mutasa

Year-in, year-out, lives are lost in Zimbabwe’s mining sector, with corruption and inadequate monitoring of mining activities by the government cited as major causes.

For instance, since 2018 several accidents have been recorded; including the flooding of Battlefields mine in Kadoma, which killed 28 people and the collapse of Eldorado mine in Chinhoyi, killing 11 men in two separate incidents.

Other accidents include the collapse of Shurugwi’s Wonderer mine, trapping over 50 artisanal and illegal gold miners underground and the Nugget gold mine collapse in May, which killed eight people, as well as the blast at Mazowe mine in which eight people died.

Again, in February this year, two miners died after a shaft collapsed at the Globe and Phoenix Mine in Kwekwe District, 200 km southwest of the capital Harare.

In May this year, another worker at Vumbachikwe Mine died after he allegedly fell during a blasting exercise when he was alone underground.

Last year, a man died in Gwanda at Berwick 3 Mine when a shaft he was working in collapsed.

Platinum giant Zimplats also recorded one fatality towards the end of the first quarter of 2019 at one of its mines, Mupfuti Mine.

On September 8, 2020, five artisanal miners got trapped underground at Task Mine in Chegutu and as of today four remain underground and only a single body was exhumed.

Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) Manicaland regional rep Judith Shadaya when contacted for comment said she had no knowledge of the unfortunate incident