Mat South youths have condemned Chinese miners brutality towards Zimbabwe miners after watching a highly sensitive video and pictures showing a Chinese miners torturing and beating their workers for demanding unpaid salaries.
In an interview with CYDT, a Gwanda youth alleged that “Chinese miners have been getting away with various crimes in recent years for instance last year Matobo artisanal miners accused Yakutsi Investments mining firm bosses of beating and paying them what is less than the hours they are working.”
The youth also said that a similar issue happened in Maphisa where artisanal miners under the Thuthuka Cooperation group accused Chinese employers of beating them, of which all these cases went cold with time.
Another youth from Gwanda said “Chinese miners are friends with law officers and other highly respected officials which works in their favour when cases like these happen, therefore, independent human rights bodies are needed to put pressure on authorities so that these cases are solved swiftly.”
The youths said that by beating local miners, Chinese miners are breaking the law as the Constitution of Zimbabwe Section 51 states that “every person has inherent dignity in their private and public life, and the right to have that dignity respected and protected” while Section 53 states that “no person may be subjected to physical or psychological torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
The youths also quoted other sections of the constitution such as Sections 54 and 55 which are against slavery, servitude and forced labour to further show that no worker in Zimbabwe must be subjected to inhumane treatment.
Mat South youths encouraged other youths to continue demanding action in all social media platforms as a way of putting pressure on the authorities.
The Community Youth Development Trust (CYDT) which seeks to ensure the protection of youth rights and freedoms recently endorsed a petition that was initiated by Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) https://www.newsday.co.zw/2021/01/probe-abusive-chinese-employers demanding thorough investigations from the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) and Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) for thorough investigations with regards to cases of Chinese miners` abuse of Zimbabwean mine workers across the country.
Other organisations that endorsed the call by the MIHR include, Women’s Institute for Leadership Development, Matobo Youth Development Initiative, Rural Communities Empowerment Trust, Community Podium, Christian Legal Society Zimbabwe, South Western Region Gender Network, Ibhetshu likaZulu, Greater Whange Residents Trust, Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association, Lupane Youth for Development and Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Association.
In a statement, the MIHR said “this is not the first incident of Chinese miners torturing and abusing mine workers in the country. Incidences like these have been noted in Insiza District, Gwanda, Bubi, Hwange, Gweru, Matobo, Masvingo, Mutare and other districts of the country where mining is taking place.”
The statement went on to say that it is also critical to note that CSOs have gathered in many areas of the country where the Chinese miners are operating, that these acts of wanton human rights abuse by the Chinese to local Zimbabweans are rampant and the locals no longer report them because of the impunity they have experienced.
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