The Sunday Mail
Teddie Bepete
Last month four diamond panners died in Chiadzwa in an incident that has attracted various theories.
One of the deceased, Collen, was a close relative, apart from being the son of an accomplished liberation war fighter.
Though an ordinary being in an ordinary story, his excruciating ordeal with those who succumbed with him is a reflection of how Chiadzwa is not delivering on the promise it holds in its earthy grasp.
The intention of this article is not simply to give the real story of how Collen and his compatriots died, or to simply correct the fallacies propounded by some media outlets who said he drowned in a dam of slime after a chase by ZCDC guards.
Rather, it is a window into what Chiadzwa is and what it could be.
Of course, there is no glory in trespassing into diamond fields and dying such a death. But there is honour in those of us who remain exploring the truth that is embedded in Chiadzwa.
There is need to understand if our diamonds are an economic, political or moral issue, or a combination of all three.
President Mugabe has lamented the country’s losses in Chiadzwa to private companies that never lived up to fulfilling their obligations.
There is serious concern that the mineral is being depleted without Zimbabwe ever really realising its benefits.
President Mugabe said: “We have not received much from the diamond industry at all. Not much by way of earnings. I don’t think we have exceeded US$2 billion . . . So where have our gold and carats been going?”
The surrounding community has up to this day nothing to show for the expropriation of its natural endowment.
To talk of poverty in a diamond-rich country is an oxymoron; it casts a shadow over the economic empowerment agenda.
Abayomi Azikiwe has commented that: “The Marange diamond fields are said to be one of the most lucrative in the world, yet people living in the vicinity are suffering from food shortages and other economic problems. This situation is further aggravated by reports that the gems are being rapidly depleted.”
When the Zimunya-Marange Community Share-Ownership Trust was commissioned by the President in 2012, the five diamond companies operating in Chiadzwa then pledged US$10 million each to support the locals over the coming five years.
Four years on, they had deposited US$400 000.
Can we divorce this from the curse of corruption that is now being taken as normal by many in our midst?
Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company boss Dr Morris Mpofu has promised to bring sanity to the fields.
“We have tightened our security because we want to safeguard that national resource and ensure it benefits the country and not individuals,” he says.
But where is the source of power of the people who are running their own parallel diamond mining operations in Chiadzwa? How do they get so many panners into the fields? Where will the security be? Where do they get the greenbacks to oil their activities even as we queue for days to get US$50 from the bank?
Is the death of our kinsmen the price we must pay for their selfish enrichment?
The recent establishment by the State of the ZCDC as an antidote to the haemorrhaging of our diamond wealth is expected to give a new lease of life to the real owners of this wealth – the people of Zimbabwe; you and me.
And now we hear that there is a growth in the market for synthetic diamonds. Are we as a country going to benefit from our natural diamonds before they are overtaken by laboratory-made gems? Should we waste away our natural wealth while thalidomide rises? For Norbert Chaguma, one of the four who survived the incident that claimed four other lives, it all comes down to empowerment.
He sees the diamonds. He sees how a few people are getting rich of them. And he will not stand for that.
Not in an independent Zimbabwe.
