Marange: The paradox of plenty

Rufaro Mufundirwa Correspondent
For decades, Marange has been known for nothing else save for poverty until some years ago when the greatest and most spectacular find of the century was made in that area.

Expectations were high that the discovery of diamonds in Marange would revolutionise the livelihoods of the inhabitants of that arid land.

The cake was just too big for Marange or Manicaland, thus it had to be shared nationally. However, Marange still remains the habitat of probably some of the poorest people in the country.

The Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere was right when he admitted recently that Government let the area down by letting companies that were operating in Chiadzwa loot diamonds and leave nothing for the local folks.

Indeed, the nation in general and Marange in particular have not enjoyed to the fullest the God-given endowment.

The Marange community received with shock, news that the diamonds were exhausted when they had not seen anything to show for their gemstones. They were still expecting dividends from the diamond proceeds extracted daily by the unscrupulous mining firms.

The miners refused to comply with a Government directive to merge because they knew that they had already got their easy pickings through their mechanised panning which only exploited the alluvial diamonds. It was alluvial diamonds which they had exhausted and were not prepared to go underground.

They did not lose sleep over losing their operating licences because they had already stashed the diamond proceeds in their offshore accounts. A Liberal Democrat British Legislator, Lord David Chidgey confirmed that the proceeds from Zimbabwe’s diamonds were being kept illegally in London banks.

“The (British) government has announced a new anti-corruption strategy and support for a wide range of international institutions and initiatives.

“However, what we now need to hear is the plan of action to that end. There has been the misuse of companies, other legal entities and legal arrangements, including trusts, to hide the proceeds of corruption.

“How can we be taken seriously when the City of London is considered by many to be the money laundering capital of the world? London is the destination of choice, for example, for billions of dollars whisked out of The Crimea and the proceeds of the diamond fields of Zimbabwe and the bauxite mines of Guinea,” said Lord Chidgey in the House of Lords recently.

The Auditor-General is said to have extended investigations into the looting of diamonds to London. We hope that the investigations will be fruitful and must get the full support of every Zimbabwean.

During the official opening of a Zanu-PF and war veterans office at Bazel Bridge in Marange on Friday, Cde Kasukuwere, who is also the party’s national political commissar, raised a ray of hope for the people of Zimunya-Marange who did not even benefit from the botched Zimunya-Marange Community Ownership Trust when he said Government would do everything in its power to make sure that the diamonds looters face the music.

“When the diamonds were discovered here, we all thought that it will improve the livelihood of the people in this area. Now all we have are lots of theories on what could have happened to our diamonds.

“Why should the people of Marange remain poor when some people siphoned their riches to foreign countries? Kana zvichinzi tichasvina dumbu iroro madiamonds edu abude ticharisvina. Whoever stole the diamonds must face the full wrath of the law,” said Cde Kasukuwere.

Indeed if it means squeezing somebody’s stomach to recover our diamonds, let it be. Cde Kasukuwere’s statement is all that the people of Marange were waiting for all along.

Unfortunately, it had to take a child of Mashonaland Central to raise those concerns. Hopefully it’s not one of those political statements generously said at rallies. The people of Marange heard and kept the promise and one day they will ask you Cde Kasukuwere what became of the investigations into the looting of the diamonds.

Cde Kasukuwere was dead right to expect an improvement in the livelihoods of the Zimunya-Marange residents upon the discovery of diamonds in their land.

Everybody thought and expected as much. However, the residents have been left poorer. Their land has been left in degradation with people having been displaced and relocated to areas where there is not enough arable land. They had no problem with the relocation for they thought it was in the national interest to do so.

Some communities are benefiting from locally based resources. The Community Share Ownership Trust in other areas such as Mhondoro-Ngezi transformed the livelihoods of the residents.

Marange had no commercial farms due to its climatic conditions which are harsh to farming. As a result, the residents did not benefit much from the land reform programme. The discovery of diamonds gave hope to the poor residents who thought it would put them on equal footing with land reform beneficiaries.

Government is failing to pay its workers on time because some people decided to loot our precious stones for 10 years. President Mugabe recently told the nation that the country lost about $15 billion worth of diamond proceeds through looting and other forms of leakages.

A serious investigation must get to the bottom of this matter and explain a lot of mysteries surrounding the diamond looting. One of the mysteries to be explained is how the diamonds were stolen on that colossal scale when Government had representatives in Chiadzwa.

There was the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development that played an oversight role over mining operations in Chiadzwa.

There was Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) which was in partnership with all the mining firms on behalf of the Government. There were Government appointees in the boards of those mining companies.

What were all these people doing when the diamonds were looted? They have some explaining to do.