The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has urged miners in waterways or low-lying areas to suspend their operations until Moderate Tropical Storm Freddy passes.
On Thursday, the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) said the intense weather system was expected to make landfall at 3 AM on Friday, 24 February 2023 in the southern parts of Mozambique, with its cloud bands spreading to cover a radius of 500km beyond the eye of the storm.
In a statement, the chief engineer in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, Michael Munodawafa, said Cyclone Freddy will bring heavy rainfall, causing flooding. He said:
My fellow Zimbabweans, especially our small-scale miners and relatives, I’m sure we have all heard about the cyclone coming to Zimbabwe in the next few days.
The heavy rains and flooding will also result in instability in the ground due to oversaturation which will result in the ground collapsing and burying our miners alive.
… Let’s retreat briefly until the cyclone passes.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has also suspended schooling in six out of the country’s ten provinces this Friday because of Cyclone Freddy.
Lessons have been suspended in Manicaland, Masvingo, Matabeleland South (parts bordering Masvingo), Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central provinces as well as Harare Metropolitan province.