KADOMA – Golden Valley Mine manager Frank Taderera has apologised to the families of the seven miners who perished in a shaft accident at Chakari last Tuesday.
BLESSED MHLANGA STAFF REPORTER
The miners crashed to death when a hoist carrying them out of the shaft developed a mechanical fault and plunged 800 metres underground.
Speaking at a mass funeral held at the Golden Valley community hall over the weekend, Taderera pleaded with workers’ unions and other stakeholders to remain patient while investigations to establish the cause of the accident were being carried out.
“We broke history when we opened a gold mine here with our production levels. Now we have broken history for the wrong reason with an accident such as this one in modern times and the mine is deeply seized with the problem and would like to apologise to the families of those who passed away in the accident,” Taderera said. He said the affected families would be compensated through a group life insurance cover taken by Golden Valley Mine although he did not disclose the amounts.
Speaking at the same event, National Mine Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe president Tinashe Mugwira said although they were happy that the mine had apologised and assisted in the burial of their members, they wanted more.
“We are told that the group life insurance covers the workers to the tune of salaries worth 24 months and for all those who perished it will be merely $6 000 and that is not enough especially given that most of the workers were breadwinners,” Mugwira said.
He said the union would engage the company on more benefits for the perished miners in due course.
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“We have met the personnel department and agreed that we will begin negotiations after the burials are complete and also after getting the report from the investigators,” Mugwira said.
Meanwhile, the deceased have been identified as Adon Phiri, Phineas Machiki, Cliford Mudzara, Lawrence Ndoro, Rangarirai Tsuro, Enock Mulio and Vusa Banda.
