35 bodies exhumed from mineshaft

ARTISANal gold miners at Old Mutare last week unearthed a mineshaft that was used by Rhodesian forces to conceal atrocities they committed against Zimbabweans during the liberation struggle where about 35 bodies believed to be of liberation fighters were exhumed.

More remains were expected to be exhumed at the site which is on the foot of Chiremba Mountain at Old Mutare.
Besides the bodies, weapons of war among them rifles, grenades and ammunition were recovered in the mine shaft, which is believed to be more than 50 metres deep.

The area was part of a former Rhodesian soldier’s farm (name supplied). Besides concealing the atrocities the Rhodesian committed, the shaft was also used to cover up the losses they suffered at the hands of liberation fighters as body parts of vehicles and animals like horses’ were also dumped in the shaft.

The notorious Grey Scouts used horses in their operations.

When The Manica Post visited Herbert or Guinea Fowl Mine late Tuesday afternoon, some of the remains were scattered all over the place, while some plastic body bags with remains had been heaped near the entrance of the shaft.

Engineers from 3 Brigade were on the site detonating the grenades.

The mine is said to have been abandoned by Germans after they were recalled to participate in the World War 11 by Adolf Hitler, but was later used by the Rhodesian forces during the liberation struggle to dump bodies of people they would have killed.

In an interview at the site, the mine manager, Mr Thomas Maara, said they first stumbled upon the body bags after reaching 45 metres in their shaft equipping process.

“Our aim was to reach the 50-metres depth which is the first level of mining. We first came across the remains after digging for about 35 metres. They were in plastic bags. We just pulled them out and placed them on the surface. We continued with our mining until we reached about 45 metres when we stumbled upon more bodies. We first became suspicious after noticing a change on the soil texture as we went down. It became oily showing that some chemicals had been mixed with the soil.

“From our discovery, it showed that acid was placed inside the plastic bags to speed up decomposition of the bodies.

“Besides human remains, we also recovered vehicle body parts as well as animals like horses’ remains. This alone shows that there are more bodies buried at this mining shaft. We were digging vertically and if they could afford to dump animal remains, it shows that so many things are buried under this shaft,” he said.

One of the artisan miners, Raymond Mutema, said the discovery of the remains did not deter them as they wanted to hit their 50-metre target before the end of this week.

“We never thought that we were putting our lives at risk by pulling out these body bags laced with acid. To us it was business as usual as a lot of risks are associated with our line of duty. Reality later dawned on us that we got more than what he had bargained for after stumbling on more bodies, making the whole process scary.

“Having realised that more bodies are dumped inside, we informed the owner of the claim, Mr Oliver Mhandu, who then reported our discovery to the police. The ground where we were operating from was not that solid showing that there are more bodies underground,” he said.

A farmer in the area, Cde Gift Kagweda, condemned the miners for failing to have a human face just for the love of money.

“While we are up against the Rhodesian forces for the cruelty they did on liberation fighters and villagers, we feel that those who were mining here failed to have a human face. How could they remove the remains and dump them in the open like that just for the love of money?

“They risked their lives in the process as they stumbled upon weapons of war as you have witnessed for yourselves.

What would have happened if the grenades they extracted had exploded while they were inside the mining shaft?

“We should value human life. We should also respect all the fallen heroes, not to dump their remains in the open like that,” said Cde Kagweda.

One of the financiers at the mine, Mr Blessing Madondo, said they did not want to offend anyone, but they believed that there were just a few remains in the shaft.

“It does not mean that we do not respect our fallen heroes. We believed that there were just a few bodies in the shaft until our employees stumbled on more remains.

“We have suspended all operations until we get a green light from the relevant authorities. Our operations were above board. It is just unfortunate that we stumbled upon the remains.

“Some people with interests in the mine are blowing everything out of proportion,” said Mr Madondo.