Monitor mines’ safety adherence, Govt urged

We have continued losing precious lives due to the poor working culture and environment that the miners are subjected to hence the need for the Government to critically monitor all activities, mining expert Edward Simukonda has charged.

Speaking to The Scoop, Mr. Simukonda said there was a need to monitor mining activities to ensure all miners adhered to the mining guidelines as it would lessen accidents.

He said miners had a very poor compensation Act to support the families of the deceased because they were subjected to bad working environments and culture.

 “The frequent mine accidents are raising a serious concern and this proves that there is a big gap between the miners and the mines’ safety department that needs to be addressed to safeguard the lives of miners. Small – scale miners remain at the centre of economic development and the Government should scale up efforts aimed at improving their operating environment,” Mr. Simukonda said.

He said the Mines Safety Department should ensure there was safety in mining environments to protect the miners and investments.

“The Mines Safety Department should work with the Government for the safety of the miners as well as in promoting sanity in the sector and making sure investors and miners adhere to the Government’s guidelines on mining,” he said.

He said the Government should address the parallel management problems that were faced at the mines to protect the workers, adding that small-scale miners needed financial support to increase their production.

“Access to information on good mining practices should be sensitized to our brothers so that they know and understand their working conditions as they are also entitled to good working conditions. The Government should consider building access to finance and other forms of support to small mining cooperatives and entities as this would increase their production,” he said.

He added that the mining standards and regulations had been compromised due to incompetence and high levels of unemployment on the Copperbelt.

“Lack of jobs on the Copperbelt should not be used to intimidate the miners or subject them to poor working conditions and unsafe environments with poor salaries,” he said.