MARTIN MAWAYA
GWERU–The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has reiterated the need for companies to follow safety procedures and precautions at all workplaces to promote worker safety.
This comes after a 40-year-old worker died at the Tiahao Investment, operating from the ZIMASCO west plant in Kwekwe.
According to the Midlands province police spokesperson Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko, the deceased, Cosmas Musoni of Mbizo 4 Extension in Kwekwe, was operating a front-end loader, loading chrome sludge, when a heap slid and trapped him and the front-end loader.
Musoni was rushed to Kwekwe Hospital but was reported dead upon arrival.
The incident occurred on June 27, 2025, around 7 a.m.
Acting Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Kudakwashe Munengiwa said the labour union is greatly concerned with the increase of fatalities at foreign owned mining companies.
He added that the ZCTU has dispatched its officers to collect all the information and would escalate the matter with the ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.
The labour union leader urged the government to enact laws that protect the safety of workers.
“It seems as if the foreign owned companies don’t value people’s lives and we urge our government to speed up the enactment of the Social Security bill, which will help us to enforce safety and health in all workplaces especially in chrome smelting mining companies,” he said.
He confirmed that the labour board will raise this incident with the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) inspectorate.
Munengiwa emphasized that workers “should not be treated like slaves in their own land”, adding that the labour union will do everything to make sure that no lives are continuously lost due to negligence and carelessness by investors for the sake of profit.
Workers in some foreign owned companies are exposed to unsafe working conditions, noncompliance with labour standards, and the denial of their fundamental rights.
They have been injured while others are killed as a result of workplace hazards and none of them have been adequately compensated.
However, other foreign miners have been working towards improving compliance and strengthening the health and safety of its employees at workplaces, including allowing them to create workers’ committees.
