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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
A 31-year-old gold miner was killed in cold blood following a bitter dispute over a mining claim in Fort Rixon, Matabeleland South.
Ernest Mudenda from Binga died after his employer’s rival, Blessing Ndiweni, allegedly shot him under the armpit and the bullet ripped through his chest, exiting through the other armpit.

The conflict over Zulu Eight Mine situated in Pioneer Village, involving businessmen Virimai Nyamiwa and Ndiweni has been raging for years and has spilled into the courts.

Ndiweni allegedly arrived with seven other people at the gold mine on Saturday at around 9PM and found Mudenda and his colleagues preparing for bed.

He allegedly fired a shot at the workers and the group scurried for cover.

The workers yesterday told The Chronicle they only discovered the following morning that a bullet had hit Mudenda.

“We picked him up the following morning with a weak pulse and rushed him to hospital but he died before arrival,” said Lovemore Bindira, Nyamiwa’s mine manager.

“It was at night and we couldn’t see properly but we recognised Ndiweni’s voice when he shouted that he wanted to kill one of us after we asked him what he wanted from us. We immediately heard a gun shot and everybody dashed for cover.”

He said Ndebele had on several occasions pointed his gun at Nyamiwa’s workers and threatened to kill them.

Yesterday, the mine was deserted with only armed police officers guarding it.

Some of the workers who spoke to The Chronicle accused senior police officers in Gwanda of siding with Ndiweni by not arresting him.

They claimed the police officers had interests in the mining claim and were working with Ndiweni to evict them.

Bindira said the incident had left workers at the mine devastated.

He said police picked a security guard employed by Manifesto Security Company and hired by Ndiweni, for questioning.

“Zulu Eight Mine was sold to Nyamiwa by some white man. A conflict ensued after Ndiweni came from nowhere claiming the mine was his. His papers indicate that he owns Zulu 15 Mine but he insists that there was a mistake in naming the mining claims,” said Bindira.

“Last month we were evicted by the courts and we stopped operations, while Ndiweni and his people immediately occupied the mine and commenced mining activities before he was also evicted by the courts.”

Bindira added that Ndiweni, and seven other people raided the mine on Saturday night and instructed all the Nyamiwa’s workers to vacate the place.

Ndiweni and Nyamiwa couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.

Both businessmen claim they have papers to prove ownership of the mine.

Matabeleland South police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nkosilathi Sibanda also couldn’t be reached for comment.