Villager demands compensation

A Nyanga woman is demanding compensation from a civil engineering company and the Nyanga Rural District Council (RDC) after her house suffered damages due to surface quarry blasting activities in the area.

Tabetha Rakabopa wrote a letter to Nyanga RDC and Quick Blast and Civil Engineering Services through her lawyers demanding US$2 644 to carry out repairs to her damaged property at Messenger’s Camp.

Rakabopa is represented by Kelvin Kabaya and Peggy Tavagadza from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

According to the 46-year-old woman, the quarry blasting activities damaged her window panes, roofing sheets and doors including her kitchen unit, a wardrobe and timber among others.

But the Nyanga RDC through its lawyers, Warara and Associates Legal Practitioners, said the local authority cannot be held responsible for the mining operations.

ZLHR, the Nyangara RDC invited Rakabopa to a roundtable meeting attended by officials of the mining company on December 3 where an undertaking was made to compensate her.

However, she has not been compensated to date, resulting in her seeking legal recourse.