One fateful afternoon, then 13-year-old Obedient Dube from Hwange town went bird-hunting with three other boys as they enjoyed the last days of the 2016 August school holiday.<\/p>\n
The adventure took the youngsters from Madumabisa compound to the coal ash dump sites near the Area A residential area.<\/p>\n
At the time of the incident, the ash dump site wasn\u2019t marked \u201cDanger\u201d.<\/p>\n
The boys\u2019 adventure turned tragic when the top surface suddenly gave in partly, swallowing young Dube to knee level and exposing him to burning coal ash.<\/p>\n
Dube was burnt on both feet as he frantically moved them up and down hoping to escape from the red-hot coal ash.<\/p>\n
When he eventually escaped, his left foot had been seriously burnt and he had to spend more than three months admitted at Hwange Colliery Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote my Grade 7 examinations from the hospital bed,\u201d the 17-year-old Wankie Secondary School pupil said as he recounted the traumatic encounter.<\/p>\n
Four years later, Dube is still feeling some pain on the left foot and the hallux has been moving backward as the muscle tightens, presumably to heal the internal injuries.<\/p>\n
The shift in his hallux, he says, is making it increasingly difficult for him to walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot walk long distances anymore. It takes me about 40 minutes to walk to school [a distance of less than 2km],\u201d he said, adding that he now finds it difficult to wear shoes.<\/p>\n
Dube\u2019s mother, Zondiwe Dube, said life has been difficult for her son ever since he got injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is visibly in pain, but I do not have any money to take him to specialist doctors for attention. I now buy him oversized shoes because of his deformed leg,\u201d she said on the sidelines of the commemoration of women\u2019s struggles against destructive mining, which was organised by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) in conjunction with Greater Hwange Residents Trust.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to seek help, but we were told that Hwange Colliery Company cannot pay for specialist treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zondiwe said the company only put a danger warning sign at the dump site after her son had been burnt.<\/p>\n
The place where Dube was injured is not the only coal ash dump site in Hwange. There are several others in the Cinderella and Lwendulu villages.<\/p>\n
In 2016, the CNRG documented a horrific case of yet another boy, Simba Mulezu, who was permanently handicapped after falling into the raging Hwange underground fires.<\/p>\n
Mulezu was driving away cattle from his mother\u2019s field when the ground gave in under his feet, sinking him into the burning coal underground. He was 10 years old.<\/p>\n
The underground fires left the now 17-year-old Mulezu with deformed limbs.<\/p>\n
Simba still suffers from the effects of the accident and can\u2019t spend much time outdoors because his cannot cope with the region\u2019s severe weather conditions.<\/p>\n
His widowed mother, Susan Mulezu, was seething with anger when she recounted her son\u2019s ordeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, my son\u2019s catastrophe shows that coal is a curse to humankind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince their father passed away, I have been struggling to get my son and his three younger siblings to go to school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to secure a better future for them, but since my son fell into the coal pit, he cannot do much of what children of his age do.\u201d<\/p>\n
These sites are not protected and are prone to fire. The oxidation process of coal, which is the main burning by-product material of the mining operation, leads to spontaneous combustion of coal waste dump sites, often triggering fires that can burn for decades.<\/p>\n
CNRG director Farai Maguwu accused Hwange Colliery Company of being careless when dumping coal, which exposed residents to serious risks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is negligence on the part of Hwange Colliery Company,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince these ashes are highly flammable as residents say, there are safety measures to be put in place to protect Hwange residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the level of impunity enjoyed by the company is shocking.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo corporation must be allowed to act irresponsibly, maim people and continue as if nothing has happened.<\/p>\n
\u201dI wonder where the Environmental Management Agency is when all of this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One fateful afternoon, then 13-year-old Obedient Dube from Hwange town went bird-hunting with three other boys as they enjoyed the last days of the 2016 August school holiday. The adventure took the youngsters from Madumabisa compound to the coal ash dump sites near the Area A residential area. At the time of the incident, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[611,55,546,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-11721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-coal","10":"tag-government","11":"tag-hwange","12":"tag-mine-workers"},"yoast_head":"\n