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A FILABUSI mine owner accidentally shot by colleague while repelling illegal gold panners at Epoch Mine in the district
A FILABUSI mine owner was shot on the leg by his colleague who accidentally discharged a firearm as they were repelling illegal gold panners at Epoch Mine in the district.
The incident occurred on Thursday following the invasion of the mine by gold panners.
Qiniso Dube (33) was shot in the leg while chasing after panners after his colleague, Paul Mparuri (56) who also owns a mine, accidentally discharged a 303 rifle he was carrying.
Matabeleland South police spokesperson, Inspector Philisani Ndebele confirmed the incident yesterday.
“Yes, we confirm that a man identified as Qiniso Dube was shot on Thursday at Epoch Mine in Filabusi when he and his colleague Paul Mparuri were chasing after illegal gold panners who had invaded the Mine.
The injured Dube was running in front of Mparuri whose 303 rifle he was carrying accidentally discharged and a bullet hit Dube on his right leg,” said Insp Ndebele.
He said the case was reported to the police in Filabusi and Dube was rushed to Filabusi District Hospital where he was admitted.
“He (Mparuri) will appear in court soon facing charges of illegally discharging a firearm at a public place,” he said.
Insp Ndebele said police details were deployed to the mine on the same day and only managed to arrest one person out of the 14 who were at the site.
“The police managed to arrest one person, Mthokozisi Moyo (27) of Gwelutshena in Nkayi who will appear in court facing charges of prospecting for gold without a licence as defined by the Mines and Minerals Act. He was part of 14 gold panners but the rest managed to escape.
“As police we are on the ground to uphold the law and see that people do their mining activities legally. We don’t condone lawlessness and will not rest until sanity prevails,” said Insp Ndebele.
Meanwhile, police also raided gold panners who had occupied Vumbachikwe Mine.
Insp Ndebele said as police they were going to continue with the raids until panners stop coming to the mine.
“We are going to continue with these raids to make sure that the area is rid of these illegal gold panners,” said Insp Ndebele.
Two weeks ago about 100 illegal gold panners invaded Vumbachikwe Mine compound and started carrying out illegal mining activities. Richard Muponde, chronicle