Staff Reporter
GWERU – Local residents associations have accused Gweru City Council for criminal negligence and called for full scale investigations to establish the cause of death of two workers who suffocated in a manhole recently.
The two workers, Richard Longwe and Mary Svinurai were buried at Mtasa and Mkoba 9 Cemeteries respectively where workers demonstrated against poor working conditions.
GCC human resources manager had to be escorted by municipal police at the burial of Svinurai as workers bayed for his blood.
The local authority attributed the deaths to gas suffocation or poisoning after the workers entered the manhole without adequate protective equipment.
Local pressure group #054 wrote to Gweru Mayor Martin Chivhoko accusing the local authority of negligently causing the death of the workers.
“As #054, we are extremely concerned about this as your council is openly admitting to the negligent death of these workers,” the group wrote.
They directly accused the engineer as the head of department and vicariously the Mayor as the manager of the city of criminal negligence.
#054 said it is common cause that the Gweru sewer system in most parts of the city is slow to stagnant due to poor maintenance, aged pipes and design flaws.
“To any knowledgeable person this is an accelerator of production of sewer gas production and entrapment.
“Having known this as our engineer should have, it is a natural expectation for there to be a heightened awareness of procedures for approaching such dangerous jobs.”
#054 said failure to equip the team with the necessary equipment to check safety before entry into such manholes and proceeding to send the workers to enter the potentially deadly spaces is not only negligent but criminal on the engineer’s part.
“On your part Your Worship, you are vicariously equally responsible. It’s not a secret that most houses in Gweru’s sewer problem areas are sitting on top of stagnant sewerage,” the group wrote.
They accused the Mayor who travelled to Egypt during the same time of gallivanting squandering council finances instead of looking after the welfare of the workers who have gone for two months without salaries.
“The workers would have benefited immensely had the same energy you used to availing the resources you are squandering in Cairo to harnessing money to pay off owed wages and provide safety equipment for your workers.”
The pressure group said they would allow the affected families to grieve but will fight for justice thereafter.
Gweru United Progressive Residents and Ratepayers Development Association executive director David Chikowore said a thorough and objective interrogation of all issues around the subject must be conducted and justice served.
He said without rushing to apportion blame on anyone, one must be guided by minimum safety and health provisions which are standard expectations for anyone working in hazardous environments.
Chikowore said the revelation that GCC is operating without a Safety Health and Environmental Officer further compounds the culpability of Town House in the whole matter.
“While Zimbabweans are generally not a litigious community, the unfortunate death of the two council employees should jog us into a state where justice is sought and those entrusted with operating the levers of power at Town House are called to account,” he said.
“The two deaths must not just go down in history as mere workplace accident statistics and footnotes in recorded cases of leadership ineptitude or negligence at Gweru City Council.”
Chikowore added that justice will be hollow if it excludes compensation for lost lives.
“Even though the financial settlement will not bring the departed back to life, it will help bereaved families find some semblance of closure,” he said.
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association executive director Cornilia Selipiwe said investigations have to be done in order to prevent such mishaps happening again.
“We are waiting for the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and the local authority to carry out their own investigations.
“If we had it our way, we would have advocated for an independent committee to look into these issues and come up with a report that speaks to what really happened.
“These people died in the line of duty; there are so many issues…accusations and assumptions being levelled but we are not going to run into conclusions but wait for procedures to be done because we are equally worried,” Selipiwe said.
He said failure to investigate and conclude properly would have a likelihood of the incident recurring.
Gweru spokesperson Vimbai Chingwaramusee said investigations to establish what transpired was underway.
“We are carrying out internal investigation, and there are external investigations also taking place. We will inform you once we are through,” she said.
New Ziana
