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Herald Reporter
Reden Mining, the Chinese company whose manager Zhang Xuelin allegedly shot and injured two employees demanding salary review has reached out to the victims seeking to compensate them.

The company says it regrets the incident which has been subject of fierce debate in the past few days.

Together with the Chinese community in the country, they have been seeking to make amends with the families of the affected.

Addressing the media in the capital yesterday, Mr Ming Chang Xing, a member of the Chinese business community in Zimbabwe, who is assisting in settling the dispute, said they have made a breakthrough in conversations with one of the two victims.

“We have reached an agreement with the lady who was injured on the arm. We will be covering their medical costs and compensating her with money, we have since agreed on the amount,” Mr Ming said.

They are reaching out to the other victim, who is heavily injured.

“We are hoping to reach an agreement with our other employee who is still hospitalised. We are talking to his family and legal representatives,” said Mr Ming.

He said the effort to reach out to families is not in any way connected to the court case and judicial processes should take place undisturbed.

Mr David Zhou, leader of the Chinese business community in Zimbabwe who attended the briefing, said the incident should not be interpreted as a sign of how Chinese-Zimbabwe relations stand.

“The incident is isolated and as the Chinese community in Zimbabwe respects locals and wishes to continue doing business here. What happened was regrettable and we assure you that it will not happen again,” Mr Zhou said.

Mr Kenneth Tachiona (39) was shot six times on both legs and is still hospitalised.

While Ms Wendy Chikwaira (30) was shot in the arm and is comparably in a better condition than her colleague.

The case is before the courts.