Prisca Manyiwa-Masuku

Kwekwe – The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development recently conducted safety training programmes for miners.
Participants were warned that 40% of Zimbabwe’s tuberculosis (TB) cases start from mines and there are several other ailments which don’t afflict miners immediately but are felt later in life.
The programme which focused on topics like workplace rules, worker health, worker safety, and drug and substance abuse took place at Trust Ford Mine in Kwekwe.
Some 50 miners from Zhombe, Silobela, and other mining areas in Kwekwe attended the training and the programme was facilitated by Wilson Simbarashe Maenzanise, and Oswald Ndlovu.
Basics of safe mining raised at the indaba were that miners should employ trained managers, workers should wear protective clothing and there should be no consumption of alcohol at the workplace.
“As miners you should make sure that your managers are trained and they have a blasting license, the key responsibility of a manager is to ensure that workers have complete protective clothing.
“It is also the duty of the owner of the mine to make sure that all your employees are well protected to prevent fatalities,” said Maenzanise who is a mines inspector with the Ministry of Mines.
He warned that 30 to 40% of TB cases in Zimbabwe emanate from mining. It is the miners who then spread the disease in the communities where they stay.
“Some people lose their sense of hearing in the long run because they work in the mines without putting on their earplugs.
“We also encourage miners to desist from taking alcohol or any drugs and substances because if they work under the influence of drugs or alcohol they may cause serious accidents,” said Maenzanise.
“We are here to capacitate miners on responsible mining as we know they handle a lot of hazardous substances and different chemicals. In some cases there are incidents where livestock drink contaminated affluent from mines.
“We are saying miners should operate within stipulated regulatory frameworks,” said EMA Provincial communications officer for Midlands, Ndlovu.