Who’s to Bless or who’s to blame?
How many more deaths must occur before these mining houses are made to take responsible measures to ensure the safety of the community they exploited?
The tragedy over the weekend in which two teenagers drowned at a disused mine has left one filled with emotions of shock, anger and admiration.
Let me first hasten to clarify the admiration part. The admiration is unquestionably for members of the police’s diving and rescue unit whose job it is to search, locate and recover victims of drowning in less than favourable conditions.
These divers often have to contend with dirty or contaminated water in all kinds of rivers, dams and streams, in winter and in summer and under circumstances which we, the public, would never dream of taking on.
They are indeed a rare breed and deserve the thanks and appreciation of the communities they serve.
While most would agree that it is the duty of parents to warn their children about the dangers of swimming in isolated dams and water-filled excavations, one cannot help expressing anger at the mining companies that simply pack up and move on once their mining operations become unprofitable.
They leave behind a scarred, dusty, polluted and un-rehabilitated environment which, besides being an eyesore, often poses an extreme danger to everyone.
Can the management of these mines not foresee the possibility of adventurous youngsters playing on mine heaps, on high man- made cliff faces, in dark tunnels and water holes?
One also cannot help wondering why officials of the department of minerals and energy do not grab owners and managers of these abandoned mines by the ears, drag them back and make them honour the conditions they agreed to when the mining licences were granted.
How many more deaths must occur before these mining houses are made to take responsible measures to ensure the safety of the community they exploited?
Are these latest deaths just another two to add to the statistics?
