News / National
ZDAMWU extends a condolences to six Chinese Miners in Mazowe
17 Oct 2021 at 14:12hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe Diamond Allied and Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) has extended its condolences to the families of those who lost their lives following a mining explosion at SAS mine in Mazowe, a nickel mining company.
"We have gathered that six Chinese nationals who were managers and some locals at the mine died following the explosion at the mine. This is an unfortunate tragedy which would have been avoided had we been given an ear on the issue of the safety of mine workers," said Zidamwu secretary general Justice Chinhema.
"As Zdamwu we have been complaining about safety standards that mine workers are facing at the hands of the Chinese investors. Such tragedies are avoidable had the investors taken precautionary measures and also worker safety issues seriously. Poor mine worker safety is rampant in our mines.
We have said it, and we are going to reiterate this point that some operations, particularly owned by the Chinese and our own small scale miners are not safe. People deliberately do shortcuts on safety."
He said they disregard standard safety regulations including the 5 Point System which should be always followed at every mine.
"What has happened at SAS is a manifestation of what we have always been saying. As we have always said, the government has allowed our so-called friends from the East to do as they want with nothing happening to them," he said.
"Besides disregarding safety regulations, the Chinese are known for physically abusing their workers, subject workers to long hours of work and pay slave wages, exploitation is the order of the day, and our people are subjected to harsh working conditions."
Chinhema said their appeal to the government is to tighten our laws of investment.
"We can not bring thugs from that far to come to practice criminality here and
our message to those who are coming to invest from China is that there are laws that deal with worker safety and regulations and those laws and regulations have to be followed. We have reached our boiling point now," he said.
"We have gathered that six Chinese nationals who were managers and some locals at the mine died following the explosion at the mine. This is an unfortunate tragedy which would have been avoided had we been given an ear on the issue of the safety of mine workers," said Zidamwu secretary general Justice Chinhema.
"As Zdamwu we have been complaining about safety standards that mine workers are facing at the hands of the Chinese investors. Such tragedies are avoidable had the investors taken precautionary measures and also worker safety issues seriously. Poor mine worker safety is rampant in our mines.
We have said it, and we are going to reiterate this point that some operations, particularly owned by the Chinese and our own small scale miners are not safe. People deliberately do shortcuts on safety."
He said they disregard standard safety regulations including the 5 Point System which should be always followed at every mine.
"What has happened at SAS is a manifestation of what we have always been saying. As we have always said, the government has allowed our so-called friends from the East to do as they want with nothing happening to them," he said.
"Besides disregarding safety regulations, the Chinese are known for physically abusing their workers, subject workers to long hours of work and pay slave wages, exploitation is the order of the day, and our people are subjected to harsh working conditions."
Chinhema said their appeal to the government is to tighten our laws of investment.
"We can not bring thugs from that far to come to practice criminality here and
our message to those who are coming to invest from China is that there are laws that deal with worker safety and regulations and those laws and regulations have to be followed. We have reached our boiling point now," he said.
Source - Byo24News
