Photo: Denford Magora A Zimbabwean government minister has confirmed that an army firm has a 40% stake in one of the most lucrative concessions in Chiadzwa, in a clear admittance of the military's direct involvement in the Zim diamond mining industry.
The country's Deputy Mines Minister told parliament last week that the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) owns 40% of the Anjin mining firm, which is a joint venture with the Chinese. Although the ZDI is, on paper, a private company, all the shares in the company are held by the ZANU PF controlled Ministry of Defence.
The state owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) owns a further ten percent of Anjin, with the remaining half of the shareholding being held by the Chinese Defence Industries.
Minister Gift Chimanikire told parliament that there was nothing sinister about the ZDI's involvement in diamond mining, and that "Anjin itself is a defence industry company that is owned by the Chinese."
But Chimanikire's admittances come amid fresh reports that the army, along with police and private security, is still leading a violent campaign against diamond panners at the Chiadzwa alluvial fields. According to a report in the UK's Sunday Times newspaper, witness have described continued shootings, beatings and the use of dogs by soldiers, police and private guards against illegal miners at the controversial fields.
One victim described being shot in the face by soldiers while four friends were murdered and others beaten after digging for diamonds near a concession. The man claimed he had been recruited to dig for stones by the soldiers who had later killed his colleagues and disfigured him for life, apparently in an attempt to eradicate witnesses to their brutality.
"We agreed to share the proceeds," the victim was quoted as saying. "They said for every five diamonds that we get, we give them one or give them two."
"But when we were digging there was a change of officers, soldiers that were not used to seeing us. They came to surround us and started firing on us, using live bullets, and as we were running away they then fired on us using big guns. There was no warning given."
Human rights groups and campaigners have for years warned about the involvement of the military in diamond mining operations, after the army led the 'clean up' campaign in Chiadzwa in 2008. That 'Operation Hakudzokwi' saw soldiers on the ground and in helicopter gunships opening fire on defenceless diamond panners, leaving at least 200 dead and many more injured.
This violence saw Zimbabwe being barred from international diamond trading by the industry watchdog, the Kimberley Process (KP). The group ordered Zimbabwe to reform and meet the minimum standards of international trade, including demilitarising the diamond fields.
But this never happened, as Chimanikire's admittance in Parliament last week has shown. And yet Zimbabwe was still cleared for sales by the KP last year.
Alan Martin from the human rights group Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) told SW Radio Africa on Monday that the reports of violence are a serious concern, but not surprising, explaining that "we have warned repeatedly that the Anjin firm is a military to military arrangement."
"We have been hearing the reports of violence for a long time and it really highlights the deficiencies of the KP's 'conflict diamond' mandate. The majority of abuses in diamond mining, not just in Zimbabwe, are no longer committed by rebel groups, but by state security," Martin said.
The KP has been urged to make key reforms and expand its human rights mandate, but so far there is little sign that Zimbabwe will be brought to task over the ongoing violence.
"The KP has lost the political appetite to deal with Zimbabwe head on. Now they just want to try prevent future incidents like Zimbabwe from happening," Martin said.
Comments Post a comment
So on the one hand army bigwigs loot proceeds from diamond mines whilst on the other they hire thousands more unbudgeted soldiers knowing the government can't afford to pay them due to the aforementioned looted diamond proceeds?! Only in Zimbabwe!
Alex_Bell;
I really can't see what is there to write home about in this article. Only a certifiably insane idiot will consider this news worthy. Do you really think that you have scooped here?
I thought it was obvious that the Army or should I say the Security Services of any country are the better placed entities to run businesses on behalf of the people. Considering that we took back our heritage with no resources of our own to run them (be it land or mines), the best placed organisation to run these on our behalf has to be the Defence Forces.
They (the Army) are people centred; they are disciplined and they came from the people and this must make them the BEST if not the ONLY CANDIDATES to run our mines, especially, diamonds which can easily go to the vultures if left to be run (at this stage) by individuals with no resources.
Therefore to imply that the Zimbabwe Defence Industries' (ZDI) involvement in Marange Diamond Mining is "opaque" does not only show gross stupidity but also proves beyond doubt that you people have an agenda - to discredit Zimbabwe and its diamonds.
Did you know that the reason why the Obama regime has not called or advocated for the bombing of Egypt's military dictators is because of the interests the Egyptian army (in partnership with the American military) have in EVERY FACET of Egyptian economic life. They control the farming; manufacturing; shipping; banking; commercial and they are even into as small a thing as baking bread and scones for Egyptians.
That, my dear former coloniser - Alex Bell - is how organised and professional the army can be and we do not want to put to waste the talent, professionalism and technical knowhow within the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) simply because you go about shouting at the top of your voice about nothing.
If anything, I would suggest they (the ARMY) not only increase their shareholding to sixty (60%) percent from the current forty percent but also venture into other lucrative investments (especially mining and farming) that are always coming up in our country. Bottom line; the army does everything on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe!!
My God! Just read the lies put together by the rabidly racist and demonic Alex Bell. These racist whites badly want to see the total destruction of Zimbabwe's Army and ZDI. Why?? They know that the Zimbabwean Republic Police and Zimbabwe Defence Forces are the cornerstone of our (black people) drive towards total economic independence. Roy Bennet spends sleepless nights in UK thinking of how he and his fellow racist whites can destroy Zimbabwe's army. They tried and tried and tried to pressure Morgan Iscariot into pushing for "security reforms" but our man Morgan Iscariot has got too much to deal with at the moment..especially his uncontrollable penis.
Just hear this by takunya, "The security services of the country are better placed entities to run businesses on behalf of the people." Where does such an idiot come from? Only from Mugabe's Zimbabwe. HAHAHAHAHA! Takunya you are embarrassing to say the least. Talk of ignorance.
kjrs, even though Cde Takunya has patiently explained it to you in his well-written post you still don't get it do you? Let me see if I can get you to understand using simpler terms, since I understand that he is so intellectually superior to you that you might not comprehend what he said.
What you can't seem to understand is that the Military or Security Forces ARE part of the indigenous people, therefore, any businesses that they conduct IS "run are on behalf of the people". This is no different from the Pentagon does in Washington or the PLA in Bejing.
The military's involvement in whatever sector of the economy is especially needed in the case of Zimbabwe since they are likely to have some of the most capable individuals for managing things, since being under 90 years of colonialism and 10 years of sanctions have deprived the country of the means of developing an adequate number of civilians to run things, a problem that the indigenisation process will fix. In fact, not only is it right that the Security Forces be involved in the mining sector of the country , they are the best way ensure that the country gets the revenue it needs to buy the weapons it needs to protect itself from being attacked by greedy foreign predators. And it certainly makes sense that they do not publicise how much they are making from the sale of diamonds so as not to invite increased sanctions from a cabal of jealous racist predators.
See All Comments