Communities let down by diamond miners

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COMMUNITIES in diamond mining areas say they continue to wallow in poverty and accuse diamond companies of pursuing profits at the expense of the welfare of locals.

COMMUNITIES in diamond mining areas say they continue to wallow in poverty and accuse diamond companies of pursuing profits at the expense of the welfare of locals.

By OBEY MANAYITI

Traditional leaders and villagers in Chiadzwa said on Friday they petitioned government to force mining companies to start developing areas they were operating from.

Seven companies are licensed to mine diamonds in Chiadzwa, namely Mbada Diamonds, Marange Resources, Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company (DMC), Jinan, Kusena and Gye Nyame.

But villagers said most of the mining companies save for Mbada Diamonds, were doing little to support community development initiatives.

Simon Mukwada, a local villager said children were now walking long distances to school after the nearby Chirasika Primary School was destroyed by one of the mining companies to pave way for diamond mining.

“I am very angry with the way some of the mining companies are treating us. We were better off without this diamond mining,” said Mukwada.

“Chirasika school was destroyed in 2011 and some of the villagers were relocated to Arda Transau. But the company responsible did not relocate the whole community.”

He said children were now walking long distances to Chishingwi or Hot Springs to get education.

“They arrive at the school late at around 9am when others will have started lessons. They will not concentrate because they will be tired,” said Mukwada.

“The school that was destroyed was a community one. I do not see the sense in destroying community property to please some foreign mining companies,” he said.

Another villager, Miriam Muudzengwa, complained about mining activities near homesteads and schools.

She said different communities were facing acute food shortages and also running out of firewood because some of the miners were randomly chopping down trees.

According to Muudzengwa, there should be a clear policy to compel the miners to embark on a massive reforestation programme. Others pleaded that they want more water sources for themselves and their livestock.

Ward 30 councillor Joshua Chibuwe said Marange community needed more health facilities so that expecting mothers and the sick would not have to travel long distances to Mutare or Chimanimani to seek medication.

Others said if the situation did not improve, they were likely to embark on demonstrations to force the majority of miners to plough back to the community.

But Mbada Diamonds corporate affairs executive George Manyaya said his company was doing its best to develop the community.

He said the diamond miner built modern eight-bedroomed houses for local traditional leaders including, Chief Marange, headman Chiadzwa and headman Mukwada.

Manyaya said the company was now working on a project to provide tap water to thousands of villagers in the area.

“We have been privileged to have been given the mandate to mine this resource, but we are also cognisant of the fact that the mineral resource belongs to the people of Zimbabwe and thus we will strive as we can to give back to the community,” he said.

“We are working on a pipe line which will bring water from Odzi, about 18km from our mine and we will open taps along the pipe line so that people will draw water to use.”

The company on Friday provided about 8 000 families facing starvation in the area with over 800 tonnes of maize meal.

Minister of State for Manicaland province Chris Mushowe who received the Chiadzwa villagers petition said government expected other diamond mining companies to initiate their own corporate social responsibility programmes.

“Mbada Diamonds is not the only company operating in this area. How do other mining companies want people to survive when they turned their fields into mining fields?” said Mushowe.

He said instead of externalising all their profits, diamond mining companies should turn Marange into a modern town along the lines of Zvishavane or Johannesburg in South Africa.

Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa recently announced plans to streamline the mining firms from the current seven to either two or one to facilitate transparency and accountability in the operations of the Marange diamonds currently shrouded in secrecy.

The licence for Gye Nyame has since been revoked after the major shareholder Ghanaian tycoon William Ato Essien fled the country after failing to provide the promised capital injection.

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