adminThandeka Moyo Court Reporter
AN illegal gold miner yesterday appeared in court for allegedly attacking and throwing a colleague into a 70-metre deep mine shaft where he died. Adamson Ngoma, 24, from Kwekwe appeared before Bulawayo magistrate, Tinashe Tashaya, facing a murder charge. He was not asked to plead and advised to approach the High Court for bail..
Magistrate Tashaya remanded Ngoma in custody to August 3.
Prosecuting, Nkathazo Dlodlo alleges that last Thursday, Ngoma pushed Amos Ncube into a mine shaft in Shangani.
“It’s believed that Ngoma was fighting Ncube over who had the right to mine in that particular mine,” said Dlodlo.
A Chronicle news crew visited the scene of the incident last Thursday and found gold panners trying to pump water out of the shaft and get Ncube’s body out.
A gold panner, Mubetesi Mudimba, told The Chronicle that he was asleep with three other gold panners when Ncube and another miner identified only as Joe arrived from a nearby bar.
They sat by the fire talking before switching off a pump. They then left for home.
“Amos was walking with Joe on their way home from a bar in Shangani when they decided to pass through the mine at about 2AM,” Mudimba said.
“I fell asleep. In less than 30 minutes I heard Joe screaming claiming that Danmore, who was also at the mine, had pushed Ncube into the shaft. We all rushed to investigate. We only saw one of his shoes caught between the logs covering the shaft.”
Mudimba said he went inside the shaft and saw Ncube’s body suspended on wooden beams above the water.
“I called the others. By the time they arrived he had fallen into the water and we couldn’t get to him. When I rushed to investigate, I saw Joe trying to push Danmore into the shaft, accusing him of having thrown Amos into it, but Danmore managed to escape,” said Mudimba.
The owner of the mine, Awali Makoneche, said he was shocked when he received a call at 6AM on Thursday informing him of the tragedy.
He said it took them a long time to retrieve the body because they did not have appropriate equipment.
Online Reporter