The Citizens’ Cabinet has learnt with deep sadness of the confirmed tragic deaths of 24 informal miners, following the flooding of two disused gold mines at Battlefields, near Kadoma town. Sadly, this number is expected to rise as more than 50 people are said to have been trapped in the flooded mines.
We express our deepest condolences to all the affected families and the nation at large. Our hearts are broken and we are in deep mourning.
“This crushing tragedy puts a face to the state of economic emergency in this country, where unemployment is upwards of 90% and the majority of our people lack secure means of livelihood. The majority of those who died in this disaster are below the age of 30 – we are saddened to see that the face of economic misery and desperation is young people and we call on the government to step up the response to this latest disaster as well as urgently provide solutions to the untold pain and suffering that is forcing young people to eke out a living in sub-human and dangerous circumstance”, said Briggs Bomba, the Convener of the Citizens’ Cabinet.
The Battlefields disaster is the latest and worst in a series of mounting deaths from unsafe and unregulated informal mining activities across the country. The catastrophe exposes the total abdication of responsibility by the authorities, who have completely failed to enforce safe and environmentally secure ways of artisanal mining.
Above all, this disaster, exposes the country’s total lack of disaster preparedness – for 72 hours after the mines flooded, there was no serious rescue effort to talk about. More lives could have been saved had rescue efforts been done timely and with proper equipment. The rudimentary equipment; the lack of health officials to attend to those rescued alive; and lack of organized communication to victims’ relatives and the whole nation is a total disgrace and an indictment on the government.
A disaster of this magnitude cannot be swept under the carpet and we demand accountability. Stern measures should be taken against the Ministry of Mines and Mining Developments and the Environmental Management Agency whose lethargy and dereliction of duty is leading to mounting environmental and mining disasters across the country. Cardinal Pillar #8 of the Citizens’ Manifesto calls for Environmental Sustainability and Natural Resources Justice. We call on parliament and the government to urgently formulate legislation and policy to put an end to these avoidable disasters.