MUTARE- Zimbabwe Diamonds and Allied Workers Union (ZIDAWU) has added its voice to the growing calls for government to halt diamond mining with immediate effects, as the local community is mingling.
Worker representatives and community monitors are recommending that government stops mining operations at Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamonds Company (ZCDC) and Anjin with immediate effect and dispatch a task force to conduct testing and contact tracing.
ZIDAWU says its recommendations are necessitated by the recent reports of Covid -19 positive cases at the two companies and their futile attempts to engage the corporates on the lack of due diligence and care in safety issues of employees with regards to Covid-19.
It said ‘Ministry of Health’s guidelines are not being followed as some workers were going to work without effective and recommended protective clothing (PPE).’
On 15 August, Anjin stopped operations in its portals following positive tests of workers, although management remained coy when contacted for comment, employees who spoke on condition of anonymity said they are living in fear.
Company interpreter Progress Gwenzi declined commenting on the incident saying he was not directly on the ground and was waiting for confirmation on the ground. He said he had no information as he was tied up in company meetings but he was later not picking up his phone and failed to provide updates.
“I am currently in a short meeting I will get back to you with regards to that information. I am still trying to establish the facts from the ground, once I get more details I will update you,” said Gwenzi.
However from a source privy to the happenings at Anjin, workers have been banned from using their mobile device to communicate with those outside while they are living in squalid conditions without proper sanitation and ablutions facilities.
ZIDAWU confirmed the nature of living conditions, where workers live in groups of 8 sharing bunk beds, as a conduit for transmission and called on the Manicaland Covid Taskforce to dispatch a team in Marange to conduct testing and tracing of mine workers and the community.
“Zimbabwe Diamonds and Allied Workers union (ZIDAWU) as workers representatives and community monitors we recommend that the government instructs the mining operations to halt at Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamonds Company (ZCDC) and ANJIN with immediate effect. This recommendation is necessitated by the recent reports of Covid -19 positive cases at the two companies
“In as much as we understand that mining is an economic driver and necessary for the operations to continue, nothing can justify the limitation of the right to life guaranteed in Section 48 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe that is threatened in Chiadzwa.
“There is no proper testing of workers coming in from hotspot such as Harare and Bulawayo and as we once wrote, (that) Chiadzwa is a health hazard ticking bomb, it is now detonating and a matter of time before it blasts totally.
“It is high time that the government takes stand and for once hid our call to halt the operations to save lives. If operations are not stopped and necessary measures to curb the diseases taken, there is no need to tell of a disaster impending if not already manifesting,” said ZIDAWU.
“For the safety of the workers we represent as well as community of Chiadzwa, we call for the operations to be stopped paving way for investigations and necessary health protection measures.”
As earlier reported, Bocha Diamond Community Trust (BDCT) also raised alarm over positive workers were being dumped in the community. Moses Mukwada the Trust’s representative recently told delegates at the Provincial Alternative Mining Indaba that at least six positive workers were dumped in the community.
Mukwada challenged delegates at the annual meet organized by Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association, to investigate this issue, even offering to physically escort any delegation to the affected households.
Worryingly, workers for the diamond mines are not locals but still mingle with community when they acquire the necessities to use for their living, while they commute regularly to their homes extending their contacts to even their families.
“Without further testing and contact tracing local employees who goes to work and comes back in the community are potentially positive and risk their families and community too. We had been urging ZCDC to collaborate with community monitors to do awareness campaigns but not much has been done,” said ZIDAWU.
During the Provincial Alternative Mining Indaba, delegates also requested Mutare Rural District Council CEO Shepherd Chinaka, as part of the task force, to take immediate action and investigate reported cases.
