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NewsDay

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Gold mine strike enters third week

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Workers at Vumbachikwe, one of the country’s oldest gold mines, embarked on a strike on November 24 demanding their outstanding salaries

THE Vumbachikwe Gold Mine workers’ strike entered its third week yesterday, amid reports management has started firing workersfor embarking on an illegal job action.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

Workers at Vumbachikwe, one of the country’s oldest gold mines, embarked on a strike on November 24 demanding their outstanding salaries, as well pension contributions, which the gold producer had failed to remit despite deducting the money from workers.

The mine, located 16km out of Gwanda town, is owned by Duration Gold, a Zimbabwe-focused private gold miner and explorer, which is owned by Britain-based, Clarity Capital.

According to the National Mine Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (NMWUZ), workers were still on strike yesterday and management was dismissing some and suspending others without any show cause order.

A show cause is a court order that requires one or more of the parties to a case to justify, explain, or prove something to the court.

“The situation is dire here at Vumbachikwe. It’s getting tougher by the day, as the company is now firing any employee, who dares step into the mine’s premises, claiming they embarked on an illegal strike,” NMWUZ area organiser, Howard Sibelo said.

“As such, workers are afraid to go back to work without a show cause order. We are worried as to why the Ministry of Labour has not yet issued out the show-cause order.”

There were also reports that other workers were assaulting some of their colleagues, who wanted to return to work.

Sibelo said the union would approach the Labour ministry and demand answers concerning the matter. Workers claimed management has suspended about 200 workers.

However, Duration Gold country co-ordinating project manager, Ollie Iversen dismissed those claims.

“It’s not true. We have not fired the workers and we haven’t received the show-cause order. What I can say is that the strike is illegal,” he said.

Vumbachikwe has been in operation since 1904.