“Inquiry on Kariba boat disaster put in place as Minister Mhona appoints board”
12 October 2026
Story by Vongai Masuka
HARARE -The Government has today appointed a three-member Board of Inquiry consisting of Supreme court judge Justice Joseph Mafusire ,legal expert Advocate Mrs Patronella Musarurwa and Dr W. Makamache Officer Commanding ZRP Mashonaland East and Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development Permanent Secretary Eng Joy Pedzisai Makumbe as it’s secretary to investigate the capsizing of a Rural Infrastructural Development Agency (RIDA) vessel on Lake Kariba, in which more than 95 people died.
Announcing the appointments, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Hon Felix Tapiwa Mhona said the board will have no more than three months to establish the causes and circumstances of the accident, with a possible one-month extension and the hearings will be held in Kariba.
The vessel, registration number KF551, capsized on 11 August 2026 at about 1300 hours.
Of more than 160 people on board, 67 survivors have been recorded, and more than 95 confirmed dead.
The Minister said preliminary findings were not enough to bring closure. “It is our respectful view that the preliminary findings so far are not adequate to bring closure to the ramifications of the casualty,” he said.
The board’s terms of reference are wide. It will examine the vessel’s registration, certification, and fitness, as well as the competence of those who bought, owned, operated, and navigated it. It will also look at whether the cargo and passenger load was within limits, whether the crew was adequate, and whether the passenger manifest matched the number of people actually on board.
The board will also assess safety procedures before, during, and after the accident, along with weather controls and the wider inland water shipping framework.
It will recommend reforms to the structural, institutional, and legislative systems that govern inland shipping.
The inquiry was set up under Section 25(5) of the Inland Waters Shipping Act [Chapter 13:06], with the approval of His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The President declared the accident a state of disaster under the Civil Protection Act Chapter 10:06, and all the victims were buried under the state-assisted funeral framework.
Responding on behalf of the board, the chairperson, Hon Justice Mafusire, thanked the Office of the President and the judiciary, which he said had promised him relief from court duties to focus on the inquiry.
“It is our promise, Honorable Minister, that the time frame that you have given us should be adequate to deliver,” he said.
“There are several other people, probably even more qualified than ourselves, but those that put our names forward had every confidence in us, and the task now is to ensure that that this confidence is not misplaced.” He added.
The board is expected to submit its written report to the minister within three months and could be given a further month if needed.
Meanwhile Hon Mhona also took the occasion to announce that a Silver King ferry will start to service the the Kariba urban to Kariba rural route starting from tomorrow with RIDA expected to procure new boats as government accelerates efforts to alleviate transport between Kariba town and its real areas.
