Workers demand to be involved in regulatory bodies

THE Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) has challenged Government to involve workers in boards that regulate the licensing of investors.

ZDAMWU general secretary Mr Justine Chinhema said having workers’ representatives on regulatory bodies would ensure that the welfare of workers and their safety is guaranteed especially in the mining sector.

“As a trade union that represents the interests of mining workers, we are calling on the Government to include workers in boards that regulate investors licensing.

‘‘This is very critical and soon we will be pushing for the minimum standards of safety and health,” he said.

“We have already engaged NSSA on this and we hope they will impose stiff penalties on employers who violate safety regulations. We also want this criminalised to safeguard the workers and such employers should be convicted for manslaughter.”

He said they are also pushing for a regulatory body, which will have board members from NSSA that will certify new mining investments and ensure that they adhere to minimum safety standards before operations can start.

He said enforcement of minimum safety standards in the mining sector will save workers from accidents which can be avoided.

There has been a number of accidents in the local mining sector, which have mainly been attributed to small scale miners in the gold and chrome mining sub sectors.

However, a number of large scale operations have also not been spared from the mishaps.