deadly tribal war hits illegal gold mine in Matebeleland
At least four people are suspected to have died when Ndebele speaking illegal gold miners attacked Shona speaking fellow miners at disused Gealong Gold Mine in Gwanda.
Impeccable sources from the mine who would not be named exclusively revealed to the source that the feud between Ndebele and Shona speaking miners has been ongoing for a while only awaiting a final boiling point.
The sources claim that the Ndebele speaking miners have for long not been happy with the presence of the Shona speakers who they want out of the rich mining area. The local Ndebele miners claim that the Shonas are taking their space and should leave Matabeleland and go and mine in Mashonaland.
The feud finally got to its boiling point at the beginning of this month after a group of Shona miners hit a rich gold belt from an area previously rejected by a group of Ndebele miners who had worked in the area for a long time and got very little gold from the area.
After more than two weeks of large returns by the Shonas, the Ndebeles got angry and demanded their counterparts to immediately leave the area, an order which was not accepted. The Ndebele miners left the area on Saturday evening giving the Shona miners 48 hours to leave the area. On their return on Tuesday morning they came back with a reinforced group of over twenty other miners triggering a huge fight between the two groups. Deadly objects like picks, shovels, knives and any other implements used for mining were turned into weapons resulting in a bloody exchange.
The Shonas were overcome by the large contingent as they fled leaving behind at least four of them dead according to sources. Police in Gwanda expressed ignorance on the matter referring all questions to the police general headquarters in Harare. However a source at Gwanda Provincial Hospital confirmed that a number of badly injured informal miners was received at the hospital. The source could however only confirm one body as having been received from the mine without giving any further details.
At the time of going to press, sources around the mine area reported that there was heavy police presence in the area and at least six people have been seen handcuffed.
Source: Zim Eye
No comments:
Post a Comment