By Admore Mbonda | Kariba
Commissioner-General of Police Stephen Mutamba on Wednesday hosted a luncheon for Zimbabwe Republic Police divers who pulled 97 bodies on 11 August 2026 after the RIDA ferry Mbuya Nehanda capsized.
They were the last to leave Lake Kariba, and the first to see what no one wanted to see.
The lunch was not for generals, but for the divers.
More than 40 members of the ZRP Support Unit’s Sub-Aqua Unit, backed by ZRP Kariba District and Mashonaland West Provincial Headquarters, were deployed when the vessel capsized near Long Island on its way from Kariba to Chalala.
For two weeks, they searched in deep water, recovered bodies, and assisted with identification.
By 26 August, police had confirmed 96 identities. One victim remains unidentified.
For families in Mola, Chalala and Kariba, the Sub-Aqua team did what no one else could they brought their relatives home from the lake.
“The work of the police divers went beyond rescue. Recovering victims from the lake helped families receive confirmation about relatives who had been missing,” a senior officer said.
The Mbuya Nehanda tragedy was one of Zimbabwe’s darkest transport disasters and exposed how thin emergency capacity is on a lake where entire communities depend on boats for transport, fishing and access to clinics and markets.
The luncheon, police said, was to recognise “contribution during the search for survivors and the recovery and identification of victims” a job done in murky water, under heavy emotional strain, with limited resources.
After weeks pulling bodies from Lake Kariba, the divers were finally given a table, not a rescue line.
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