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Staff Writer
IN a shocking incident that has rocked the mining industry in Zimbabwe’s southern parts, a popular mine owner in the Inyathi area of Matabeleland North province allegedly left two illegal gold miners to die underground as a way of punishment for stealing his gold ore.
However, the two miners, who have since been identified as Mayibongwe Ndlovu 26 and Cosmas Maphosa 27, were only rescued four days later.
The two are part of the dozens of miners who have been working illegally in Francisco Marconati’s mine in the area.
The incident has sparked outrage among human rights activists and mining communities, who have condemned Marconati’s ruthless action.
According to reports, Marconati accused the two men of stealing his gold ore before deciding to “teach them a lesson” by trapping them underground.
As a result, he reportedly sent his security team to remove a winch on the entrance of the 90 metres deep mine leaving them helpless with no food or water.
Some of the witnesses who spoke to this publication narrated how the incident transpired.
“These boys entered a disused mine and were illegally extracting gold ore from the shaft and the security guards of the mine came and arrested those who were outside and left those who were underground. The guards however took away the winch which those guys use to go in and outside the shaft leaving the two stranded in the bowl of the earth. For four good days there was no help despite us telling them that there were people underground, something which the owner Marconati starkly ignored,” said one livid miner.
He added: “While they were later assisted, our concern was that they were supposed to take them to the ZRP rather than to leave them to die in a shaft because if they had not been assisted, who knows, we could have lost two young black lives due to negligence.”
Efforts to get a comment from Marconati were fruitless as he was not reachable on his mobile by the time of going to press.
Some community members expressed shock and outrage at the actions of the mine owner with some calling for a boycott of Marconati’s mine, while others have called for stricter regulations to be put in place to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
The incident has raised serious concerns about the safety of illegal miners in Zimbabwe, who often work in dangerous conditions without proper safety equipment or training. It has also highlighted the issue of mine owners taking the law into their own hands and punishing illegal miners without due process.
Human rights activists have also called for justice for the two miners, who were left in a life-threatening situation and have since been rescued. They have called on the government to ensure that the men are given the support that they need and that Marconati is held accountable for his actions.
Speaking to this publication, the Young Miners Foundation (YMF) chief executive officer Payne Farai Kupfuwa said the incident was a clear reflection that young miners should be given an opportunity to participate in the formal mining sector.
“As YMF,we are saying, young miners should be given a formal access to participate in mining activities in their host communities because that is their livelihood. We were reliable informed that the Italian mine owner has more than 2000 claims that he is not even working, why not give these young guys a tribute agreement for them to operate a formalised and professional mining enterprise.
“Youths are willing to work formally if the conditions are fair and they are willing to contribute to the US$12 Billion mining economy which resonates to the Empowered and Prosperous Upper middle income by 2030 by delivering their gold output to the Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR),” said Kupfuwa.
He further explained: “Also, young black lives matter in a sovereign and independent country like Zimbabwe as we are having our 43rd Independence celebrations commemorations in a few days. We can’t condone having our very own colleagues dying in disused mines because some greedy white man is seating on large unproductive mining land yet our very own youths are willing to operate formally giving him his royalties/shares or dues as agreed.”
He however said YMF has been assisting many other young miners in different Provinces to formalise and professionalise their operations in view of developing small scale mining to medium scale if not large and in the process creating more formal and sustainable employment since 2010,when YMF was established.
