Filabusi gold wars turn ugly as gangs go on the rampage
IN a harrowing ordeal that shook Filabusi District, Prosper Ncube, a young miner, recently became a victim of a vicious assault. Under the cloak of night, he was ambushed and mercilessly beaten by a gang of illegal gold panners known as amakorokoza. Left for dead in an abandoned mine shaft, it was only by the grace of a desperate search by his family that he was found the next morning, barely clinging to life.
Ncube, who is just 19, was rushed to Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo where he lay unconscious, the events of the previous night a blank in his memory. The diagnosis was grim - a deep laceration at the back of his head, likely from a machete strike, had caused his brain to swell. His body bore the marks of brutality, with bruises from severe beatings with sticks covering his lower body.
The attack occurred at the mine operated by his uncle, John Phiri, a site that has now become a stark reminder of the dangers faced by those who dig into the earth’s riches. Ncube’s mother shared the family’s anguish as they scoured the area for him, their fears mounting with the news of the mine’s invasion by the amakorokoza, who sought to claim the gold ore by force.
“Prosper usually comes back home after work but on that particular night they worked overtime moving gold ore from the mine shafts to the surface so that the following morning they could take the gold ore to a stamp mill. From what we were told by his colleagues, the mine was attacked by a group of men demanding gold ore and the employees ran in different directions but the gang caught up with Prosper and beat him very badly.
“We started looking for him the following morning and searched the whole mine compound but couldn’t locate him. I feared that maybe they had killed him and dragged his body far away from the mine compound,” said his mother Sibongiseni Ncube.
By a stroke of luck one of the members of the search party that now included other villagers, decided to shine his torch in a disused mine shaft a few hundred metres from where Prosper and his colleagues had been attacked. The villager saw what he initially thought was a lifeless body hanging precariously on logs of timber a few metres into the mine shaft.
“The shaft where my nephew was found is very deep but the miners that worked in it some years ago lined some logs of timber about five metres into the shaft where some of them would stand on when handing over gold ore, food, or other supplies to one another.
“That’s where my nephew was lying unconscious. Had it not been for one of the villagers who decided to shine his torch in that disused mine, Prosper would not have been found alive,” narrated the teenager’s uncle Ernest Phili.
Our Bulawayo Bureau caught up with Prosper’s family at Mawabeni Business Centre, driving back to Filabusi from Mpilo Hospital where the young man had been discharged following the brutal attack that almost left him dead.
He can’t recognise some of his family members and remembers nothing from the attack. When he speaks he labours to do so, occasionally asking for water to drink.
“When I asked him if he knew why he was in hospital, he told me that he runs a business in Bulawayo and that he had gone there to check how it is doing. That’s how bad his memory is. He remembers nothing. He says things that do not make sense and the doctor told us that his brain is swollen so we will take him back to Bulawayo in a few days for a scan,” added his mother Sibongiseni.
Some of the pictures taken after the attack showing the injuries he sustained at the back of his head are too graphic to publish in a family paper.
Prosper is one of the many villagers from Marubamba and Theleka areas that have fallen victim to marauding gangs of amakorokoza, who villagers say are outsiders from other provinces, that have been running amok in the last couple of weeks.
At Theleka Business Centre, the situation came to a head when the illegal gold panners started robbing villagers and shop keepers of money and valuables in broad daylight last week.
Further down in Marubamba, the illegal gold panners threatened to burn down homesteads after they were asked to leave the area following complaints by villagers that they were digging for gold in villagers’ homesteads.
We observed serious degradation of land a few metres from Msithi Primary School where amakorokoza are leaving deep shafts and trenches in search of the precious mineral. A villager Innocent Sibanda said his whole field, where he usually plants maize, has been overrun by the amakorokoza and they keep advancing nearer to his homestead.
“As you can see, they are digging a few metres from my kitchen hut. If they are not stopped, they will destroy my home and I will be left with nothing. We can’t even send our children to the shops because they will be robbed of the money. My neighbour was beaten up when he confronted the gold panners after they forcibly took US$20 from his son at Marubamba shops,” said Sibanda.
A meeting was held at Marubamba Business Centre on Wednesday where villagers demanded that the illegal gold panners leave the area.
Village head Ndlelambili Tshuma said: “They must leave immediately. These people are nothing but trouble. Our children can’t even work and dig for gold in their own villages because of people who come from other provinces to cause problems here.
“We made a resolution as villagers that they must pack their bags and go. They are no longer welcome here”.
The Wednesday meeting was attended by Member of Parliament for Insiza South Cde Spare Sithole, villagers, the local leadership and the police.
Cde Sithole said he was invited to the meeting as villagers wanted a lasting solution to the issue of violence in the area, allegedly perpetrated by illegal gold panners.
“I have been hearing stories about violence caused by miners in the Marubamba area so I decided to meet the villagers and listen to their concerns. What is clear is that the villagers want the gold panners out of Filabusi. We don’t condone violence, whether it’s the gold panners or villagers seeking revenge. What is disheartening is that a number of people have been injured and we call upon police to arrest the perpetrators of the violence without fear or favour,” said Sithole.
Chief Ndube, born Nonhlanhla Sibanda, whose jurisdiction Theleka and Marubamba falls under said for peace to prevail in the area, the illegal gold panners had been told to leave.
“Villagers were very clear that they cannot co-exist with gold panners who come from other provinces and fail to live in peace with locals. People are free to come to Filabusi to work but they must live in harmony with villagers,” said Chief Ndube.