A Beitbridge family has finally found peace and relief after living for over six years fearing that their house built on a disused mine shaft would collapse.
In essence, the Majurus’ dream to own a house in the border
town had become an endless nightmare since they discovered that their property
was sitting on a mine shaft in 2014.
The couple, Farai and Eunice Majuru, acquired a residential
stand from Beitbridge Municipality in 2007 and they completed building their
property the following year.
The family of eight has been living in fear since discovering
a mine shaft underneath that used to be run by PUB copper mines in the early
1970s.
On several occasions, they had been backfilling the opening
by following a luke-warm response from the local authority and the Ministry of
Mines and Mining Development.
At some point, the local authority re-allocated one stand
owner, next to the Majurus due to the state of affairs.
According to Mr Majuru, the family is now relieved after
the local authority moved in to address the problem last year.
“They have filled up the shaft and reworked our perimeter
wall to ensure that the shaft doesn’t give in again,” he said.
His nephew, Mr Justin Chimedza said he once entered the
disused mine to make his own assessment due to delays to attend to their plight
by authorities.
“After waiting for the local authority to act for some
time, I decided to get into the pit to make an assessment. I went down for
three metres and discovered three tunnels where one can walk upright. It is not
clear how the former miners closed the mine,” he said.
He said the front elevation and the car park in the yard
had been in suspension since 2014 and every year they feared the house would
collapse during the rainy season.
“We are relieved that something has been done at last. It
took the town council workers five months to seal the mine shaft and to rebuild
the perimeter wall in front of the house,” said Mr Chimedza.
During a recent interview, Mrs Majuru said to avoid further
damage or risks the couple had to park their vehicles at a neighbour’s house. “We
had to vigilantly monitor our children given the obtaining circumstances,” she
said.
To add to their woes, the family stopped drinking water
from a borehole they drilled near the mine shaft. Beitbridge town clerk, Mr
Loud Ramakgapola said they had spent $591 573.63 on civil works at the Majurus’
house.
“Some of the civil works include removal of unsuitable
materials, excavating to an approved level of 393.34m3 and we used $15 401.03
“We also did some backfilling and spreading of 590.71m3 at
a cost of $70 703.39 and also reinstated the perimeter wall. The interlocking
pavers is ongoing,” said Mr Ramakgapola.
He said the civil works were carried out as recommended by
the ministry of mines and mining development.
Mr Ramakgapola said to avoid the recurrence of such issues,
they will thoroughly inspect new housing development sites.
“There is going to be a thorough inspection during the
process of coming out with a layout and involving all stakeholders including
Ministry of Mines. The Department of Physical Planning does this but at times
some departments and parastatals do not respond. In the future we will ensure
their responses are solicited and provided,” he added. Chronicle
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