BULAWAYO – Blanket Mine has lost a bid to stop a $335,966.40 compensation claim brought by the widow of a worker who died in a fatal underground accident at the Gwanda gold mine.

High Court judge Justice Mpokiseng Dube dismissed a special plea by Blanket Mine and three senior managers who argued that Gracious Vambe’s claim had prescribed because she only issued summons more than three years after her husband’s death.

Vambe is suing in her personal capacity and as the executrix of the estate of her late husband, Andrew Clydon Phiri, who died at the mine on February 21, 2022.

Phiri, a 35-year-old diesel plant fitter, was off duty when he was called to work because of staff shortages.

He was attempting to park a diesel-powered LHD006 machine inside a workshop bay when its engine suddenly cut out.

The machine began rolling towards a 157-metre underground decline.

Phiri tried to stop it, but the brakes failed, and the machine plunged into the decline, killing him.

Vambe is claiming $335,966.40 for loss of dependency and earnings, based on Phiri’s monthly net salary of $933.24 calculated up to his expected retirement age of 65.

She cited Blanket Mine (1983) (Pvt) Ltd, mine manager GN Mafurutu, human resources manager Thulani Dingani, and mechanical foreman Chatambudza Munenzvi as defendants.

The defendants raised a special plea in the bar of prescription, arguing that the claim had been prescribed under section 5(d) of the Prescription Act.

They argued that the three-year prescription period began running when Phiri died and expired on February 22, 2025.

Vambe issued summons on April 11, 2025.

The defendants also argued that her appointment as executrix in February 2024 and earlier conciliation proceedings did not interrupt prescription.

But Vambe argued that she did not have the material facts necessary to establish the alleged negligence when Phiri died.

She only obtained the full factual basis for the claim when the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development released its accident investigation report on March 20, 2024.

The report raised serious concerns about safety conditions at the mine.

Investigators found that the workshop had no standard spillage drainage system and was covered in oil spillages.

There were also no barricades or arresting devices separating the workstation from the decline.

The investigation further found that the machine’s brake stamp measurement had been reported as faulty and outside the required specification more than a month before the accident.

Despite the warning, no corrective action had been taken, according to the report.

Justice Dube agreed that Vambe could not reasonably have known the full circumstances surrounding her husband’s death before receiving the investigation report.

“I am convinced that prior to the 20th March 2024, the date the accident report became available to the plaintiff, she would not have known in concise terms what caused the accident that led to the loss of her husband’s life,” the judge ruled.

“I thus reject defendant’s argument that computation of time should be done from the date of the accident itself under the circumstances.”

The judge found that prescription began running from March 20, 2024, meaning Vambe’s April 2025 summons were filed within the three-year period.

Justice Dube dismissed the special plea with costs, clearing the way for the widow’s claim to proceed to trial.