The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara
On Saturday, December 12, 2015, Zimbabwe woke up to the news that six artisanal miners had been trapped in an underground shaft at Pickstone Peerless Mine in Chegutu.
Reports indicated that they were trapped after the mine owners allegedly backfilled shafts when illegal miners were still underground.
The news and the rescue efforts that followed ignited a war of words between the local legislator, Cde Dexter Nduna, and Mines and Mining Development Permanent Secretary, Professor Francis Gudyanga.
As Prof Gudyanga maintained that the alleged trapping was a hoax, Cde Nduna insisted bodies of victims were there underground.
Cde Nduna was accused of frustrating the rescue efforts.
Last week, The Sunday Mail Extra visited Pickstone Mine and from interviews conducted, heads or tails cannot be made about what is really going on.
The artisanal miners, backed by Cde Nduna, are adamant that three of their colleagues are underground. On the other hand, Pickstone management says it is all a hoax meant to disturb mining operations.
The incident has left Chief Ngezi Mupawose (Mr Peter Pasipamire, 36), under whose jurisdiction Pickstone Mine falls, demanding answers.
“It is clear that either the artisanal miners or the owners of the mine deliberately lied. Anyone found on the wrong side of the law must be dealt with in the best way possible,” Chief Ngezi said.
After almost three weeks of searching, there seems to be not one shred of evidence giving credence to the alleged trappings.
Furthermore, the identity of an artisanal miner who claimed some of his colleagues were buried underground could not be verified.
The witness gave conflicting accounts of what happened that day. Mr Lemson Mutongwiza, chair of the Pickstone Youth Mining Co-operative whose members illegally panned gold at the mine, still claims three of his colleagues are buried in the shaft.
“I know for certain that three of our colleagues are buried in one of the shafts. We are not happy with the way the mine authorities are going about the whole process. Mine authorities must allow us to dig and retrieve the bodies,” Mr Mutongwiza said.
Mr Mutongwiza, however, failed to identify the victims. Initially, he said he knew the victims’ real names. When pressed to identify them, he made a U-turn, stating that he only knew the victims by either their nicknames or first names.
“Artisanal miners mostly use nicknames. The victims are also not locals,” Mr Mutongwiza said.
He said the “victims” were only known as Nicholas, Gidza and MuNdebele.
Cde Sinodia Jena, the local councillor, said those alleged to be buried in the shaft are not locals.
“The three are said to be from Kadoma. Everyone in my ward is accounted for,” Cde Jena said.
Mr Mutongwiza chronicled how the saga unfolded.
“On December 11, police evicted artisanal miners from Pickstone Mine without an eviction order. We were still in the process of negotiating for a tribute. The following day, the police backfilled the shafts that were used by the miners without them checking, resulting in three miners being buried alive.”
He said one of the miners alerted police about the people in the shaft but was ignored.
Mr Denis Mtombeni, the mine manager, maintained that the whole story is a hoax.
“We began operations in February and when we told the artisanal miners that we were moving into the area that they were panning, they refused to vacate. They were subsequently evicted by the police and that’s when they came up with the fabrications,” Mr Mtombeni said.
He said of the hundreds of panners who allegedly witnessed the backfilling, only one signed an affidavit confirming the incident.
One of the artisanal miners who was reported to have been buried in the shaft later resurfaced at his home in Zvimba.
“What these people are saying is pure fiction. If the miners were, indeed, trapped in the shaft, their bodies have reached an advanced stage of decomposition by now. A strong stench would have been engulfing the environs by now,” Mr Mtombeni said.
He said the victims’ clothes would have been floating in the flooded tunnels by now.
Mr Mtombeni alleged that Cde Nduna was behind the hoax. “He came here and disrupted the rescue operations. This is part of a bigger agenda to disrupt operations. The MP is deliberately misinforming people,” Mr Mtombeni said.
The mine’s human resources manager, Mr Geoffrey Magadza, was also not amused by Cde Nduna’s conduct.
“His behaviour is unbecoming of a Member of Parliament. He scuttled rescue efforts by blocking the road. He was also encouraging artisanal miners to take the law into their own hands. The legislator was personally benefitting from the chaos hence he was encouraging the miners to cause chaos,” Mr Magadza said. Efforts to get a comment from Cde Nduna were in vain as the legislator’s mobile phone was, for the better part of the last week, not reachable.
However, writing in The Herald last month, Cde Nduna, said: “The allegation that the local MP was and is creating a story of missing artisanal miners is recklessly prejudicial and misplaced and amounts to the defamation of the person of the MP and derogatory to the sanctity and dignity of human life.”
Locals and the artisanal miners confirmed that the shafts they were working on had “very rich deposits”.
“We were realising between 30 and 40 grammes from a tonne of ore. After all the costs, we usually took home $5 000 every week,” Mr Ben Musengi said.
Mr Mtombeni said output was on the higher side.
“We heard stories in which some miners were claiming that they were actually getting 200 grammes from three tonnes ore. Although the reef is very rich some of the production levels that were mentioned are impossible to attain,” Mr Mtombeni said.
Following the disturbances, mine authorities were left counting the costs. “We would have realised up to 11kgs of gold. Furthermore, we used US$23 000 during the rescue mission. This is money that was flushed down the drain,” Mr Mtombeni said.
Pickstone Peerless Mine is run by Beckridge Investments, which has set up a milling plant worth US$7 million. Company officials say more was spent on exploration. Mine officials say the mine has a lifespan of about 16 years.
Pickstone, which was opened in 1906, is one of the oldest mines in the country.
