11 September 2026
Mbuya Nehanda being pulled to shore after it capsized on Lake Kariba on 11 August, killing 97 people. Photo: Ruvimbo Muchenje
A month ago, on 11 August, the Mbuya Nehanda ferry capsized on Lake Kariba, killing at least 97 people. An investigation by news agency Pachena reveals that the boat should never have sailed that day.
Engineers who service the vessel had repeatedly warned authorities that it needed structural work to improve stability. This was acknowledged by Lake Kariba Captain Adam Nyekete at a closed-door meeting with Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona on 16 August, five days after the disaster.
Lameck Chitenga, Nyekete’s boss and Director of Inland Waters Control, was at the meeting and confirmed to Pachena on record that he found out about the engineers’ letters during the meeting. Nyekete, he claims, had not informed him about them before.
Yet some politicians and officials continue to blame the captain, Sign Patsikadova, who they say should never have gone out on the lake in rough weather. At a post-cabinet briefing on 18 August, two days after the engineers’ warnings were disclosed in the meeting, Minister Daniel Garwe, who was not in the meeting, publicly blamed Patsikadova. He said the Transport and Infrastructural Development Ministry had cleared the vessel for service in June.
Patsikadova died in the tragedy.
Cabinet has announced a commission of inquiry into the disaster, which was Zimbabwe’s deadliest transport disaster since the 1991 Nyanga bus crash, in which 89 people died.
Boat operators have confirmed that Nyekete advised them to stay off the lake that day because of strong winds and other bad weather.
But an investigation into the ferry disaster revealed that the vessel had longstanding problems which were known to officials, operators and regular passengers, and that it was severely overcrowded that day.
The Mbuya Nehanda was operated by the state-owned Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) which reports directly to the Office of the President and Cabinet. It carried villagers, fishermen, traders, teachers and nurses from remote communities around Kariba. The water route is far cheaper and quicker than travelling by road. For example, the ferry crossing from Kariba to Mola takes six to seven hours and costs about US$15 compared to two days and US$30 by road.
The government has said that the boat was allowed to carry 95 passengers, including crew. After the disaster, police initially stated that the ferry was carrying 90 passengers and five crew. But, after the rescue and salvage operation, police confirmed that 97 bodies had been recovered and 77 people rescued. While the exact number of passengers on board that day is unknown, there were at least 174, as well as cargo.
On 22 July, the RIDA issued a notice on a WhatsApp group instructing passengers to provide their correct names when buying tickets so they could be traced in an emergency. But the Mbuya Nehanda’s ticket list for its final voyage does not have details for the children onboard. These tickets were left blank.
Concerns over the number of people the ferry was carrying are compounded by evidence that its original capacity of 95 had been reduced to 50 after an incident in December 2024, when its engines failed shortly after leaving Peters Point and the vessel nearly capsized. When the wreck was pulled ashore on 25 August 2026, it was clearly marked “50 PAX”.
KB Engineering, the firm that serviced the ferry, is a member of the Kariba Business and Tourism Indaba, an association of 141 tourism companies operating from Kariba to Binga and Kanyemba. Through the association, the engineers issued warning letters to the Lake Captain outlining work to improve the vessel’s stability, including fitting two additional pontoons.
News of these warnings emerged at the closed-door meeting on 16 August when the administrator of the Kariba Business and Tourism Indaba, Cephas Shonhiwa, explained that the ferry was not fit for purpose. Shonhiwa confirmed to Pachena that the engineers’ warnings had been sent to the Lake Captain and RIDA several times.
Contacted for comment, Nyekete said he was a junior civil servant and had been instructed to refer questions to his director.
As Lake Captain, Nyekete is responsible for ensuring all vessels comply with laws governing seaworthiness, life jackets, fire extinguishers, and communication equipment.
Keith Valentine, director of KB Engineering, declined to comment, citing the government’s planned commission of inquiry. Transport minister Felix Mhona also declined to comment.
Acting RIDA district head for Kariba, Ignitius Chiome, who attended the meeting, also declined to comment. He has since been arrested on culpable homicide charges and was released on bail after appearing in court on 26 August. He has not pleaded, and the matter is before the court.
The state alleges that administrative failures, overloading of the vessel and breaches of operational safety procedures contributed to the disaster.
Director of Inland Waters Control Chitenga, who oversees vessel safety, regulation, and administration on Zimbabwe’s navigable waters, including inspections and safety surveys, said he disagreed with the engineers’ assessment.
“During the meeting, Mr Shonhiwa said that the engineers who refurbished the Mbuya Nehanda vessel recommended that two additional pontoons were supposed to be fixed on the vessel to improve its flotation. However, I want to point out that I do not agree with this version. I say so because the vessel, even up to now, it has not sunk completely in the lake. It is still floating,” he said.
He said the vessel had been operating since 1985 and has never encountered a problem, suggesting that the ferry capsized because of the captain’s navigational error.
RIDA Director General Christopher Shumba also insisted that the ferry was seaworthy and dismissed the engineers’ recommendations as “speculation”.
He said the ferry had undergone regular servicing, and the engines had been replaced.
The Mbuya Nehanda was one of three ferries bought from Denmark in 1985.
In December 2024, the Mbuya Nehanda nearly capsized after its engines failed. It came close to capsizing again in January 2026, when, two hours into the journey, its boarding ramp broke away and fell into the lake, affecting the engines. Passengers then discovered there were not enough life jackets for everyone aboard.
This incident promoted the MP for Kariba, Shine Gwangwaba, to call a meeting with RIDA and to try and secure rescue boats for the ferry and at least two speedboats so rescuers could respond if vessels got into trouble.
Gwangwaba said RIDA had told the meeting it did not have the money to address all the problems at once but would consider the recommendations. But RIDA now disputes the need for smaller rescue boats, saying there was no legal requirement for them.
Shumba questioned Gwangwaba’s ability to assess the ferry’s mechanical condition because he was not an engineer and told Pachena that: “If the authorities have not seen fit that we should do that, we have no obligation of having tender boats on big vessels.”
Gwangwaba would later lose 16 relatives, including his sister, in the disaster.
On 15 February 2025, electrical engineer Norman Sianjeme warned Information Secretary Nick Mangwana on X that the Mbuya Nehanda and other RIDA vessels were old and needed major repairs. Otherwise, he wrote, “it’s a disaster waiting to happen”.
Mangwana had been promoting reduced ferry fares for travellers dependent on the service to reach remote parts of Nyaminyami District. Several users responded with similar warnings, saying an accident and loss of life were inevitable.
After the August disaster, some returned to social media to accuse Mangwana and the government of ignoring the warnings.
Survivors said the Mbuya Nehanda had routinely been overcrowded, particularly at the start and end of school terms. Seats were added around the cargo area, leaving passengers among fish, ice, cement and vehicles. A roof that had been added blocked the captain’s view of the deck below, making it harder to monitor the vessel’s stability.
Life jackets, passengers said, were difficult to reach and there weren’t enough.
There were no safety briefings or life-jacket demonstrations. Survivors said the only safety instruction was to get in and sit down.
Those on board on 11 August as the ferry started its six-hour journey across the lake to Chalala would later describe what happened as the water rose.
Current Siakaluma, an experienced fisherman, said he watched water enter the ferry for about three hours until it reached his knees. He climbed to the upper deck to alert the captain but said nothing was done.
Tendai Machamacha, another survivor, said he had no life jacket when the ferry capsized but found one floating beside him.
Taiwona Kamuto, who was the first person to respond to the disaster, said 15 of the people he pulled from the water had no life jackets.
But Shumba maintained that the vessel had enough life jackets, saying some may have been lost during the stampede. Passengers confirmed that there was a scramble for life jackets when the ferry got into trouble.
“There was obviously commotion which disturbed orderly distribution of the life jackets,” Shumba said. The commission of inquiry would establish the facts, he said.
