By Dalphine Tagwireyi
Residents of a mining town in western Zimbabwe are demanding to be given medical checks as fears rise over the cloud of coal dust which permanently coats the town.
Hwangwe residents who are not employees of coal mines are petitioning in the country’s parliament for medical checks to determine the impact of coal dust on their health.
According to the residents, the mining operations are putting villagers’ health at risk with no protection from the law. Many have resorted to travelling across the country’s border to Zambia for medical check-ups because local hospitals have no facilities or medicines.
Hwange resident Mavis Chadema said that those who can afford it leave the country regularly to get medical attention.
“The underprivileged ones like me can’t afford it, so we also need to be protected by the law because the dust affects everyone. We also want to be beneficiaries. The act should be reviewed,” she said.
Hwange Central MP Daniel Molokele told Scrolla.Africa that coal dust affects everyone in Hwange, and that most of the polluting mines are Chinese-owned.
Another resident said that they all breathe the same dust from coal, but they are not protected by the law.
“Some people are forced to go to Zambia for medical care because our health system in
Zimbabwe is non-existent. You can only get paracetamol from the hospital,” Malvin Mwale said.
An official from mining company Zhong Jian Investment said that they are currently offering medical check-ups only to their employees.
“It’s true that people in Hwange are being affected as well but we are yet to consider the issue of medical checks for everyone affected,” he said.
Pictured above: Hwangwe mines emit thick clouds of coal dust
Image source: Supplied
