News / Local
Illegal miner falls to death
17 Feb 2016 at 05:34hrs | Views
AN illegal miner at the closed Old Nic Mine in Bulawayo's Killarney suburb died after he plunged into a 130-metre mine shaft.
Tommy Mbewe, an ex-employee whose age could not be immediately established, is alleged to have fallen into the shaft while panning with colleagues.
His body was retrieved last Friday by his colleagues.
It was not clear when Mbewe plunged into the mine shaft but some ex-mine workers said it could be have been between last Thursday evening and Friday morning.
Old Nic Mine closed last year in October and has failed to pay its workers ever since.
The mine's closure has allegedly forced some of its former employees to be involved in illicit mining activities.
When The Chronicle visited the mine on Friday, scores of its former workers were wandering around the shaft where Mbewe met his fate.
Mbewe's brother, Jacob, declined to comment on the incident saying company policy does not allow him to speak to the press.
"Because of the position I'm holding, I'm not allowed to talk to the press. He's my biological brother but there'0s nothing I can say. I'm sorry," said Jacob, who did not disclose his position at the company.
A former employee said: "He was last seen yesterday in the evening. So we don't know when he fell into the mine. The people he was with are also not coming forward.
"We're also in the dark as to what happened here but it's clear that they were illegally panning.
"Illegal panning has been rife since the mine closed its doors last year."
Another ex-worker blamed the company for the accident saying if they had been paid their salaries they could have long left the mine.
"This is a direct result of the company's failure to pay us our salaries. If they had paid us we all could have gone to our homes.
"Right now we're struggling for survival. We're stuck here. We want to go to our homes but we don't have money to do so," he said.
The ex-worker said not all of them were engaged in illegal panning activities because of the risks involved.
Cases of gold panners dying in mine shafts are prevalent and last month a miner, Nkosilathi Maphosa, 24, died at Kerry Mine in Hope Fountain after he fell into a 60 metre pit.
Tommy Mbewe, an ex-employee whose age could not be immediately established, is alleged to have fallen into the shaft while panning with colleagues.
His body was retrieved last Friday by his colleagues.
It was not clear when Mbewe plunged into the mine shaft but some ex-mine workers said it could be have been between last Thursday evening and Friday morning.
Old Nic Mine closed last year in October and has failed to pay its workers ever since.
The mine's closure has allegedly forced some of its former employees to be involved in illicit mining activities.
When The Chronicle visited the mine on Friday, scores of its former workers were wandering around the shaft where Mbewe met his fate.
Mbewe's brother, Jacob, declined to comment on the incident saying company policy does not allow him to speak to the press.
"Because of the position I'm holding, I'm not allowed to talk to the press. He's my biological brother but there'0s nothing I can say. I'm sorry," said Jacob, who did not disclose his position at the company.
A former employee said: "He was last seen yesterday in the evening. So we don't know when he fell into the mine. The people he was with are also not coming forward.
"We're also in the dark as to what happened here but it's clear that they were illegally panning.
"Illegal panning has been rife since the mine closed its doors last year."
Another ex-worker blamed the company for the accident saying if they had been paid their salaries they could have long left the mine.
"This is a direct result of the company's failure to pay us our salaries. If they had paid us we all could have gone to our homes.
"Right now we're struggling for survival. We're stuck here. We want to go to our homes but we don't have money to do so," he said.
The ex-worker said not all of them were engaged in illegal panning activities because of the risks involved.
Cases of gold panners dying in mine shafts are prevalent and last month a miner, Nkosilathi Maphosa, 24, died at Kerry Mine in Hope Fountain after he fell into a 60 metre pit.
Source - chronicle
