By Rutendo Mapfumo
The perennial underground fires that have plagued Hwange town are now threatening the smooth running of the Matabeleland North Agricultural Show as they are now encroaching the showgrounds.
The Agricultural Show, a highly anticipated event on the regional calendar, is now facing the ire of the dangerous underground fires in the Hwange area in Number 2. The showgrounds, where the agricultural exhibition is held, are dangerously close to areas affected by persistent coal seam fires that have been a major problem for the mining town over the past five years.
Leonard Ncube, the Marketing Executive of the Matabeleland North Show Society, confirmed the presence of these underground fires near the show grounds.
“We have of late had challenges with underground fires that have started near the showground on the western side, and we have written to Hwange Colliery as the owners of the place to guide us, and we await a response,” he said.
The threat by the coal seam fires is not a new phenomenon in Hwange, which has a population of over 40,000 people. The underground fires have been burning for 15 years in various parts of the town, posing a grave danger to residents and infrastructure.
In a horrific incident in late 2021, an eight-year-old girl who was relieving herself in a nearby bush was tragically swallowed by the ground and fell into a coal seam fire, succumbing to her injuries at the hospital.
Residents in the Number 2 residential area, located near the Hwange Show Grounds, are growingly concerned with the encroachment of the underground fires and have asked for protection and more awareness campaigns from the mining company responsible for the area.
“We feel the company needs to give us more information on the underground fires, and we feel the company is hiding some essential information about these fires,” said local resident Mike Dube.
According to the Global Forest Watch, coal seam fires occur when a layer of coal in the earth’s crust is ignited, often due to human activity such as coal mining or waste removal. The fires are notoriously difficult to detect and even harder to extinguish, as the ground becomes extremely hot and unstable, posing a threat to roads, homes, and even swallowing vehicles and people.
The Hwange Colliery Company, which owns the land where the Hwange Show Grounds are located, previously contracted a German company DMT Group to attend to the coal seam fires in the area. However, local residents have doubted the effectiveness of the measures taken, as the fires continue to encroach on populated areas.
As the Show approaches, the organisers and the local community are anxiously awaiting a response from the Hwange Colliery Company to address the pressing issue of the underground fires and ensure the safety of the event and the surrounding area.
The post Underground fires threaten Mat North Agricultural Show. appeared first on New Ziana.