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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Kamandama Mine disaster fundraising golf tournament tees off at the Hwange Golf Club this morning, with defending champion Joseph Ncube declaring his intention to retain his crown.
Ncube won last year’s edition with a score of 44 points, beating a field of 80 competitors that took to the greens on a windy June 2018 day for a worthy cause.
According to Hwange Colliery Company corporate affairs manager Rugare Dhobbie, a field of 120 is expected to take to the greens as the company seeks to raise $30 000 that will go towards the upkeep of widows and dependents of the 427 miners that perished underground on that fateful morning on June 6, 1972.
The disaster is still the worst mining catastrophe in the country.
“I will try my best to defend it. It would be nice to win it twice in a row, but the field is big this time and there are guys playing well. But yes, I am looking to defend the title. It’s one of the big tournaments on the Hwange Golf Club calendar. I normally participate for fund raising purposes and remembering the people who perished in that accident,” said Ncube.
Dobhie said they are expecting a high composition of Elephant Hills Golf Club players, senior executives from a number of lodges in the resort town such as Wild Horizons as well as touring companies and captains of industry.
She said companies like Zuva Petroleum, Tyre Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Power Company will be part of the field.
The competition will be held under 4 better ball hidden partner competition format.
Tomorrow over 2 300 people, including the 71 surviving widows are expected to attend the main memorial service at the Kamandama accident site in Madumabisa where Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Richard Moyo will be the guest of honor.
This year’s commemorations will run under the theme “Embrace and practise safety always to prevent another disaster — Commemorating the Kamandama victims”.
The Kamandama Mine disaster is ranked the eighth worst mine disaster in the world and the second in Africa after South Africa’s Coalbrook Mine disaster that claimed 435 miners in 1960.
China’s Benxihu mine disaster is the world’s worst catastrophe to date after it claimed 1 549 miners on April 26, 1942, followed by the 1 906 Courrieres mine disaster in France where 1 099 miners perished.
There have been calls for the government to declare June 6 a national holiday to honour those that perished in the disaster.
Online Reporter