TWO illegal gold panners died after a shaft they were working in collapsed and buried them at a mine in West Nicholson.
Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson Inspector
Loveness Mangena confirmed the incident which occurred last Thursday at Mavula
Mine at around 4AM.
She said Alfred Ncube (29) and Kenneth Moyo (22) and two
counterparts were panning for gold when the incident occurred. She said the
pair went down the shaft while their counterparts remained at the top.
“I can confirm that we recorded a sudden death case where
two illegal gold panners died after a shaft they were working in collapsed.
Alfred Ncube and Kenneth Moyo were working in a 15-metre-deep shaft at Mavula
Panning Site in West Nicholson when the shaft collapsed and buried them
underneath.
“The matter was reported to the police who attended the
scene and the bodies of the two men were retrieved. They were taken to the
Gwanda Provincial Hospital Mortuary,” she said.
Insp Mangena urged members of the public to desist from engaging
in illegal panning activities as they were putting their lives in danger in
addition to violating the law.
She said people that wanted to engage in mining activities
must formalise their operations and follow the correct procedures to acquire
necessary paper work before operating.
“It’s sad that we continue to record a number of mine
accidents as a result of llegal mining activities which are rampant in the
province. If people want to engage in mining they should formalise their
operations. By engaging in illegal mining they will not only be committing an
offence but they will also be putting their lives at risk as they will be
operating without necessary equipment and protective clothing.
“Some of these illegal miners operate in the early hours of
the morning in order to evade police not knowing that they will be risking
their lives,” she said.
Insp Mangena urged mine owners and managers to ensure that
their workers had necessary protective clothing and that they were working in a
safe environment.
She also urged miners to stay away from disused or
abandoned shafts as they were a life threat. Chronicle
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