. Kabwe

By SYLVESTER MWALE –
TWO under-age illegal miners have died while another has reportedly has run away with minor injuries after an open pit mine collapsed on them while they were mining manganese in Mkushi district, Central Province.
Chola Mulenga, 16, and Joshua Sikolongo, 13, were buried alive in Kamibiya area last weekend when a three-metre deep open pit mine belonging to late former Luapula Permanent secretary Jazzman
Chikwakwa’s son Marandona Chikwakwa, caved in on them.
The mine existed under licence number 17587-HQ-LEL, under the company name of Maraede Mining Company and Suppliers.
The accident comes five months after a similar tragedy at the Kitwe dumpsite commonly known as Black Mountain, where 11 people were killed in similar circumstances in June, this year.
The Mkushi tragedy happened last week on Friday, but information only emerged on Wednesday this week following the retrieval of the bodies by the fire brigade and the police.
Central Province Permanent Secretary Chanda Kabwe and Mkushi Council chairperson Evans Bwalya called for a review of mining activities in the district.
Mr Kabwe who plans to visit the area next week, said the accident was as a result of uncoordinated mining activities in the area and called for measures to improve the safety of small-scale miners.
Mkushi was currently experiencing unprecedented levels of mining activity by various companies and there were serious concerns that most of them were defying mining regulations.
Some operations were being less than 50m from the busy Great North Road while some companies were mining without environmental approvals from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency.
One foreign miner recently defied ZEMA orders to cease operations, describing the instructions as ‘rubbish’.
“We welcome investment in the province, but any investment that does not take care of our people is not good investment; the death of the miners in Mkushi is sad and we need to look at how we can improve the safety in these mines,” Mr Kabwe said.
Meanwhile, Mr Bwalya said more people were likely to die from mine accidents, because of the increased illegal mining activities in the area which were also degrading the environment.
“It is sad, but we are certainly going to have more accidents unless there is sanity in the manner these mining companies are operating; so we need to sit down as stakeholders and agree on how we should
regulate these activities,” he said.
Two weeks ago, the ZEMA arrested Ragha Mines Limited proprietor Shailendra Ragha for allegedly mining manganese without its approval. Mr Ragha is currently appearing in court.