A Chiadzwa woman, and her two infant children, aged three years, and two weeks, who went missing on Sunday were discovered dead yesterday in an open pit left unsecured by Chinese diamond miner Anjin.
Vongai Mbara
Zimbabwe’s Centre for Research and Development (CRD) confirmed the incident via Twitter.
“Following a domestic dispute, a woman and her 2 children aged 2 weeks and another 3 years commit suicide by drowning in unsecured slime dams left by Anjin in Muedzengwa village in Marange. Anjin has failed to rehabilitate former mining areas that have continued to claim lives,” CRD tweeted.
The bodies of Elizabeth Mukachiti and her two children Kelvin and Costin have since been ferried to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital formerly Mutare General Hospital for a post-mortem.
George Bonyongwe - husband to the deceased - confirmed the incident to New Zimbabwe which reportedly emanated from an unresolved domestic dispute.
“There was no problem as such, but that my wife wanted to go back (to her parent’s) home,” he said.
Bonyongwe said had Anjin rehabilitated the open bits, his family would still be alive.
“These pits were left without being rehabilitated by the Chinese (Anjin) and they have accumulated water over the years. Had these pits been rehabilitated, this unfortunate incident could have not happened.
“This pit is just 100 metres away from my house and one can just walk out the house straight into it with ease,” Bonyongwe said.
According to research conducted by the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), Anjin has a total of eight open pits filled with water in Muedzengwa village while another 10 have no water.
The Chinese mining company also left behind unsecured four slime dams in Gamunorwa village, six open pits with water in Chirasika, and eight open pits without water in the same community.
Some years ago a local villager Touchmore Shiripinda fell into an open pit full of water dug up by Anjin and drowned in the pool.
Bonyongwe appealed to the responsible authorities to ensure that Anjin rehabilitated the open pits.
“I think we are better off and safe with these open pits closed. The government should help us to ensure that this is attended to,” he said.