Mine workers up against harassment of female miners
MINE workers have launched a countrywide campaign against the harassment of their female counterparts, after a female human resources officer at Duration Gold Investment (DGI) Private Limited, Queens Mine in Inyathi, Matabeleland North province, took her boss to court for sexual harassment.
The campaign was confirmed yesterday by the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Mineral Workers Union secretary-general Justice Chinhema.
“As a union, we want this to stop and we are going to do everything within our powers, including taking this to international level. This is just one case, but we know that several women are suffering in silence and fear for their jobs.”
Chinhema said the manager in question was charged with indecent assault, while the union is of the view that the charge is too light.
He said they would be taking the matter to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Prosecution Authority and Parliament to ensure justice is done for their members.
Court documents in possession of Southern Eye show that DGI administration manager Langton Mharira has a pending court case where he is accused of indecently assaulting a female employee at the mine.
It is alleged that on December 20, 2020, when Mharira arrived for orientation at the company, he proposed love to the lady and she spurned his advances.
In her statement to police, the lady claimed that she told him that she was married.
At the time when she was sexually harassed, the victim used to cook for the company’s chief executive officer, Francesco Marconati.
When Mharira visited the company for orientation, the woman also served him food as a visitor in the boardroom, where he asked Marconati about her marital status.
It is further alleged that when Mharira joined DGI in March as administration and logistics manager, the victim reported directly to him, and that was when the alleged abuses happened.
She alleged that some of the abuses included a salary cut after she refused his sexual advances.
“She took advantage of my gender and sexually harassed me, as well as indecently assaulted me in front of the general manager in his office,” the woman said in the court papers.
Mharira is denying the charges.