ELDERLY widows and children of the 427 workers who died in the 1972 Hwange Colliery mine disaster this week door-stepped Mines minister Winston Chitando to call for government aid and allowances that can cushion them against abject poverty.
BRENNA MATENDERE
The horrific incident, now known as the Kamandama mine disaster, saw a shaft at the coal mining plant caving in and burying the 427 workers alive.
Each year on 6 June, the government holds commemorations to mark the day that is held dear in the collective memory of the Hwange community.
On Wednesday, Chitando visited Hwange to lead this year’s commemorations that marked the 50th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s worst-ever mine disaster.
It was in-between the commemorations that a number of elderly widows of the workers who died in the disaster approached Chitando with a distress call. He hastily arranged a meeting with them on the sidelines of the event.
Hwange Central member of Parliament Daniel Molokele confirmed the development.
“The widows and children of the workers who perished in the disaster were not happy when the minister said he had been told by the company that all was well with them and that they were being provided with basic needs of survival,” Molokele told The NewsHawks.
He said while he saw the meeting between the widows and the minister being hastily arranged, he was not privy to what was discussed but got informed that Chitando promised to look into their grievances.
The NewsHawks gathered that the Hwange Colliery coal mine used to provide freebies and other basic needs for the widows and children since 1972, but stopped doing so four years ago when its business plunged, leading to the company being declared insolvent by the High Court.
Currently the company is under judicial management and coal mining is being done at a very low capacity.
The coal-mining giant at present also does not have a board of directors to oversee production strategies and ramp up revenue.
The government has an existing social welfare department that must be taking care of vulnerable citizens like these, but in the past no meaningful support has materialised.
It is also the government’s policy to support citizens who fall victim to national disasters.
“Historically the company tried to help the widows and children of the victims of the disaster. The company would employ the children and provide other necessities like food, blankerts among others. But when the company went under judicial management, it stopped doing so; that has always been the concern,” said Molokele.
He urged the government to heed the calls for support made by the widows and children of the victims of the 1972 disaster who are wallowing in poverty.
Molokele also reiterated calls that have been made by the families of the Kamandama victims that 6 June must be declared a national public holiday to remember the lives of those who perished in the disaster.
