BY OBERT SIAMILANDU THE Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Mining Workers Union (ZIDAMWU) has implored miners to ensure the safety of workers during and after the COVID-19-imposed lockdown. In a statement, ZIDAMWU secretary-general Justice Chinhema said workers’ safety should be a key priority to miners and ensuring their welfare should also include paying them a COVID-19 allowance. “Miners’ safety is a key priority during this lockdown thus we urge employers to provide adequate personal protective equipment. “It is also high time COVID-19 allowance is introduced in the mining sector,” Chinhema said on Monday. Mining is one of the industries allowed to operate during the COVID-19 lockdown that came into effect on Tuesday. Chinhema warned employers against failure to comply with COVID-19 guidelines, saying they would face the full wrath of the law. “We are aware that there are unscrupulous employers who don’t want to comply with COVID-19 regulations to ensure workers safety, taking advantage of the lockdown period which will have minimum inspection at the mining sites,” he said. “ZIDAMWU, after being granted the exemption to be on the ground, will be in the field inspecting and monitoring for compliance to COVID-19 regulations in our mining industry in terms of the law.”
