By Tichaona Katsvamutima
The search for accountability over the Lake Kariba ferry disaster has moved into the courts, with a senior Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) official being detained on a culpable homicide charge as investigators turn their attention to decisions allegedly made before the vessel left met its fate.
Ignitious Chiome, the Kariba District Clerk and acting RIDA district head, was remanded in custody by a Kariba magistrate and is expected back in court on Thursday for determination of his bail application.
His arrest marks a significant shift in investigations into the August 11 tragedy, from the recovery of victims to establishing whether negligence by officials responsible for the ferry’s operations contributed to the loss of life.
The State is seeking to hold Chiome criminally accountable over alleged failures surrounding the operation of the Mbuya Nehanda ferry, including claims that the vessel sailed heavily overloaded and under unsafe weather conditions.
Authorities say the 41-year-old ferry was authorised to carry about 90 passengers but preliminary information presented to Cabinet indicated that as many as 180 people, together with cargo, could have been aboard when it departed Andora Harbour for fishing camps around Chalala.
The vessel later capsized near Long Island.
The disaster claimed 97 lives, while 77 people survived, making it one of Zimbabwe’s worst inland water transport tragedies.
Investigators are also examining why the ferry was allegedly permitted to leave despite warnings of strong southwesterly winds on Lake Kariba.
The dangerous weather phenomenon, commonly referred to locally as the “Binga Wave”, is believed to have produced increasingly rough conditions after the ferry left shore.
Accounts emerging from the investigation indicate that water began entering the vessel as conditions deteriorated, eventually affecting critical equipment, including the bilge pump and engines.
Survivors have also alleged that passengers became increasingly concerned about the worsening weather and pleaded for the vessel to turn back or seek refuge near islands along the route.
Those accounts are expected to form part of a wider investigation into whether the catastrophe could have been prevented before the ferry reached the point where it could no longer safely navigate the lake.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the accident a National Disaster, triggering a large-scale operation involving police sub-aqua teams, other state agencies and local divers.
Recovery teams searched waters reaching depths of about 80 metres before authorities brought the retrieval phase of the operation to an end.
Attention is now shifting from what happened after the ferry sank to who was responsible for decisions made before and during the voyage.
Chiome’s prosecution could therefore become the first major test of criminal accountability arising from the disaster.
Investigations into the conduct of other RIDA officials and members of the ferry crew are continuing, with authorities not ruling out further arrests as they seek to establish how an overloaded vessel was allowed onto Lake Kariba in dangerous conditions.
