Kwekwe Community Lives on Edge Two Years After Deadly School Collapse

By Regina Pasipanodya

In August 2023, Claris (8), a grade 2 learner at Globe and Phoenix Primary in Kwekwe was hit by a car while crossing the road on her way to Sally Mugabe Primary School formerly Russell.

Although she was not seriously injured, she now has a phobia for cars whenever she wants to cross the road.

Claris is among 1300 learners who were affected by the collapse of the Globe and Phoenix Primary School in March 2023 due to illegal mining in Kwekwe.

Kwekwe is situated about 223km southeast of Harare in the Midlands Province, one of the communities in Zimbabwe popularly known for its rich in gold. This makes it a hotspot for illegal miners in Zimbabwe as a result of unemployment.

However, the illegal mining activities in the locality have threatened the safety of people as environmentalists fear that the local people are sitting on a time bomb. The collapse of the Globe and Phoenix Primary School is one of the incidents that stressed the severity of the situation.

Christwish Koza*** who is also Claris’s brother is also a victim in the collapse of the class as he was part of the Grade 5 pupils who were injured.

“When the class caved in we were 7 in the class, our teacher had gone to attend a meeting. All of a sudden, I was hit by a bench on my leg but we managed to escape”, said Christwish.

However, this incident is a violation of Section 73 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution which guarantees a right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being.

Usually, schools are regarded as safe places for children, but, such accidents are a total opposite to the safety of learners as they are exposed to environmental risks.

Gogo Chipo Phiri, (60) – grandmother to Christwish and Claris – is having a difficult time dealing with her traumatised grandchildren.

Claris is now disturbed. Whenever she sees pits on the ground she trembles.

“In the first days after the incident I had to accompany her to school, but now I always teach her to look both sides before crossing the road”, said Gogo Phiri.

At one point Gogo Phiri thought of transferring her grandchildren back to their parents.

But, when she heard that Kuvimba Mining House had donated a piece of land for the construction of the new school she reversed her decision.

She was hopeful that the construction of the school would be completed soon to enable children to start learning there by January 2024 but nothing much has been done.

The new school site is located almost a kilometre from the old school, which also raises questions about the safety of learners.

Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) Director, Farai Maguwu emphasised that a thorough assessment should be conducted before the construction.

“It’s quite good that a corporate organisation wants to rebuild the school elsewhere, but they must make sure that the place is well assessed before they start rebuilding, or else all the resources will go to waste”

A Globe and Phoenix Mine resident Yeukai Rwonzisa (30) said since the collapse of the school in 2023, the community has been on edge, fearing that children may not make it to school as their community is exposed to environmental dangers especially now when the country is experiencing floods.

Alternatively, a hot seat was introduced where Globe and Phoenix pupils attended classes in the afternoon to enable them to use classes, however, it is a disadvantage again as learning hours were limited to what they were used to.

The Environmental hazards of illegal mining at Globe and Phoenix Primary and the community have been long ignored as some incidents have not been paid attention to.

In 2014, illegal miners made unknowingly their way out through a classroom from underground and the block was closed, however, learning continued as usual.

Moreover, the garden within the compound caved into a mining shaft and also a miner was swallowed on his way home and died.

Globe and Phoenix compound residents like Yeukai fears are living in fear that anything can happen.

“I don’t know how safe we are, but there are some houses closeby that have collapsed. Only God knows because as humans we have known idea of what is underground”, said Yeukai.

However, Maguwu called upon all stakeholders to collectively address this situation, and conduct thorough assessments to make sure that the area is now safe for people, especially school-going children.