peterBruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
THERE was widespread alarm at Joplum Mine Springs in Kensington recently when workers discovered headless human remains while they were pumping water out of a mine shaft.
Workers at the mine discovered the headless bones a fortnight ago in an abandoned mine shaft and alerted the police, with early indications showing that the body might have been dumped there several years ago. A week later, a head, believed to belong to the remains that were found earlier, was then discovered in the mine shaft.
Bulawayo police provincial spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident, saying investigations were still ongoing.
According to a police memo seen by Sunday News, the mine manager at Joplum Mine Springs discovered the human remains, without the head, on the afternoon of January 13 while underground. Still in shock at the discovery of the remains, the manager then called fellow mine workers to the scene.
It is believed that the mine shaft had long been abandoned, before the latest attempts to revamp it. Alongside the human remains was a white jacket which was also retrieved.
“The informant noticed the white jacket which was on the body remains. As such, they reported the matter to Hillside Police Station where officers from there then attended the scene in conjunction with officers from crime and CID Homicide. The body was retrieved by one person who refused to supply his details. Observations at the scene were that there was a shaft which was abandoned but the informant was in a position to pump the water out. The shaft is approximately 30 metres deep,” the memo reads.
According to the memo, initial observations of the state of the bones’ decomposition indicated that the bones had been left there for a lengthy period of time. It was also the first time that staff at the mine were attempting to empty the shaft.
“The decomposition state of the bones, suggests that the body could have been there for several years. It was also established that the current attempt was the first time to try and pump water out of the shaft,” the memo read.
The bones were taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) while further investigations by the police are underway. A week after the discovery of the remains, a head was also found in the shaft.
“On the 22/05/22 at around 1000 hours ZRP Hillside re-attended a report of discovery of human bones at Joplum Mine Springs and recovered a human skull suspected to be the one which was missing on the recovered bones.
The skull was retrieved from the mine shaft by the miners when they were revamping the mine shaft. The skull was taken to UBH for post-mortem. Investigations are underway,” a second memo from the ZRP read.
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