ZIMSHEC warns miners

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

The Zimbabwe Mining Safety Health and Environmental Council (ZIMSHEC) has warned small scale miners to be alert this rainy season as lives could be lost due to high water levels in their tunnels.

The warning comes after two illegal miners died, while five more were trapped underground when a shaft in which they were mining gold collapsed and buried them in Matobo district, Matabeleland South Province.

“It’s raining. I encourage all miners to be very cautious and also to assess the water levels and take mitigation measures to resume work, “ZIMSHEC programmes manager Kundai Chikonzo told Business Times in an interview.

Recently, ZIMSHEC partnered with the Zimbabwe School of Mines and Midlands State University to train its members so that they are equipped with mining skills in a bid to reduce the number of people trapped in mines due to poor mining practices.

ZIMSHEC is an organisation founded by small-scale and artisanal miners in Zimbabwe to promote occupational health and safety, environmentally friendly and sustainable mining practices.

Chikonzo said it was critical to train small-scale miners due to many recorded accidents.

“As small scale miners, we have been having so many accidents around the country so as ZIMSHEC, we thought it’s very important to assist one another and start training these small scale miners so that we have our own proto teams other than just relying on these big miners,” she said.

Chikonzo said the organisation has trained more than 30 miners in the first phase.

“ZIMSHEC is operating in five provinces namely Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South Midlands, Masvingo and Manicaland. So far, we have managed to train 36 miners for health and safety. We did the first phase with the School of Mines. We expect to start another health and safety training class of 50 miners at MSU,” she said.

Meanwhile, women miners in Matabeleland North Province are calling on financial institutions to waive their requirements of demanding collateral when applying for loans, saying a majority of them are self-starters who do not have properties.

Sibonile Ngwenya the chairperson for Women in Mining in Bubi district, Matabeleland North Province said men are the only people who own properties in communities

“We are asking the banks to waive their tough requirements including the need for collateral when we are applying for loans.  We do not have women because all the properties are owned by men in most households, “she said.

The mining industry is one of the major economic mainstays to anchor the country towards an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.