POLICE have opened investigations into the death of a Zimbabwe Alloy Smelting Company (Zimasco) worker, who was dragged to his death on a conveyer belt late last year.
BLESSED MHLANGA STAFF REPORTER
According to a sudden death docket presented before Kwekwe magistrate Letwin Rwodzi, police are still conducting investigations into the death of Nicholas Janyure (49), who died after falling onto a conveyer belt on December 30 last year.
The docket says Janyure was on duty when he got entangled in the conveyor belt at around 10:45pm before it could be stopped.
“He had a mutton cloth rolled around his neck and was attending to the conveyor belt, but the cloth was accidentally caught by the belt and he was pulled for an unclear distance before the belt was stopped by Denis Ndaba,” reads part of the statement.
Janyure sustained injuries on his stomach, hands and head.
A post mortem conducted at Kwekwe General Hospital listed the cause of death as “head injury due to penetration of the scalp”.
Workers, who spoke to our sister paper NewsDay on condition of anonymity, said safety at Zimasco had been on the decline and most workers feared for their lives, but could not speak out for fear of being victimised by senior management.
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“Conveyor belts should be equipped with trip wires which will automatically stop the belt from moving once anything trips that wire. These wires should cover the gangway so that in the event of a person being pulled or falling onto the belt, he or she will trip the wire. In the case of Janyure, those wires were not there,” said one of the workers.
In 2010 workers downed tools at Zimasco protesting against poor safety and working conditions, but the industrial action was declared illegal and workers’ committee leaders were axed. Zimasco has another case of culpable homicide which arose following the death of its workers in a blast in 2010, pending.
