There is no disputing the fact that, when compared to what happened during the period preceding the formation of the coalition government in 2009, there is relative stability at the diamond fields, which hogged the global limelight in the mid-2000s when discovery of gems set off an unprecedented rush.
However, that does not mean all is now well at the diamonds fields. Persistent rumours and a state clamp down on information into and out of the area veils strange and mysterious happenings that need intense interrogation.
In the past two years, several mysterious deaths, some of them work-related, have been reported in Marange. In some cases, we have been told, people were buried in shallow graves and thorough investigations have not been undertaken.
Engaging the local community in a quest to get to the bottom of these sad incidents does not help as the people talk in hushed tones. Not even relatives are willing to give information and there is a loud presence of fear among the people.
This is as confusing as it is spooky. Why so much fear when people are supposed to be rejoicing over the existence of the God-given gems that should have turned impoverished rural communities into sparkling settlements?
There are still muffled voices about shallow graves with hundreds of bodies that seemed to have disappeared. You will remember, of course, the dramatic talk by the likes of Newman Chiadzwa that soldiers had killed and buried in those graves many illegal panners who had descended on Marange to mine and trade the diamonds.
Chiadzwa later made a U-turn on his statement, and the government has officially denied that there were ever any shallow graves at the diamond fields. Yet there are many in Marange who, away from prying eyes and jutting ears, accuse Chiadzwa of selling out. Could someone have done something to him resulting in his retraction of his mass grave claims, the people wonder.
One day, when the Human Rights Commission becomes a proper body, or the country establishes a sane tool to investigate human rights abuses, the issue of mass graves should be revisited. Even if they might not have existed, it would not be honest to say people did not die in their hundreds at Chiadzwa. For example, the BBC has documentary proof of numerous deaths and injuries – many of them from dog bites.
Yes, I have heard relatives who testified that they went and collected bodies of their kith and kin from Marange. But given the war-like situation that obtained then, one cannot dismiss the fact that a substantial number of bodies were not claimed for proper burial, and, naturally, one wonders where the remains are today.
Then there is this current hushed talk about rampant abuses at the mines, particularly where the Chinese are concerned. Locals and employees talk about rape, sodomy, torture and all manner of human rights violations taking place, yet no action is being taken against the perpetrators. It is not clear whether there is now an official policy on the part of the government – particularly the police -to turn a blind eye to these flagrant excesses.
The cleanliness of the diamonds that emerge from the bowels of Marange should be measured not only on the basis of the absence of widespread killings or transparency in mining activities, but also on an absence of human rights violations in the entire process.
I don’t understand why a mysterious settlement has been set up in the area, yet people are being forced off their homes to make way for the ever-encroaching mine fences.
I am also curious about the mysterious planes landing on equally mysterious aerodromes in Marange and would like one day to establish just what they are transporting.
Similarly, I don’t see why the police and other security agents continue to arrest people for digging wells on their homesteads or claiming compensation for being displaced. And why are local communities not getting anything from the community share ownership scheme?
There are, indeed, many skeletons in the Marange cupboard.
– For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis