From rags to riches

MUTARE – Douglas Dube was one of the first people to descend on Chiadzwa when word spread that diamonds had been discovered in the arid and impoverished area in Manicaland Province.
Dube, 31, an unemployed father of two, was wallowing in poverty. He could hardly pay rentals for a one-roomed house he lodged in the poor township of Sakubva, Mutare’s oldest high-density suburb.
When word reached him about the discovery of diamonds in Chiadzwa Dube joined thousands of other desperate citizens to Chiadzwa, then an unknown and desolate place.
A few months later Dube’s life had been transformed. Like the old adage Dube’s story was that of rags to riches.
Suddenly he was a proud owner of a Sedan 323 vehicle and an assortment of household properties that he had never dreamt of owning in his lifetime.
Then he moved into more decent accommodation in the city’s middle class high-density suburb of Dangamvura.
But despite his newly acquired status Dube never stopped going to the fields to mine for the precious gems.
Once he got the diamonds from the fields immediately he could sell to buyers who were readily available close to the fields.
The buyers came from all over the world – from South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria, Guinea, Mauritania, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel and Belgium.
The buyers could part with as much as $US200 a carat – a killing considering one could sell up to 15 carat stones.
Dube’s only impediment was the police and their vicious dogs that could constantly chase them from the fields. But Dube, and thousands others, soon found a way round the problem. They formed syndicates with the police officers manning the fields.
Suddenly poor police officers who earn less than US$10 a month found themselves driving automobiles of all kinds and shapes.
Police launched several operations to rid Chiadzwa of illegal miners but these never yielded results largely because they were seen as superficial exercises meant to hoodwink authorities. Thus, illegal mining continued unabated.
Then two weeks ago Dube was surprised to see helicopters hovering over the diamond fields. Then heavily armed soldiers entered the fields.
That was the beginning of a brutal campaign to remove illegal miners from the fields and also to rid the area of dealers.
Reports then began to filter that bodies of dead panners were piling up at the mortuary at Mutare Provincial Hospital. As of yesterday 19 bodies, in a state of decomposition, had not been claimed by relatives and are still at the mortuary. This prompted the police to make a public call to relatives with missing relatives to visit the mortuary.
“We have 19 bodies at Mutare Provincial Hospital all of the them unidentified from Chiadzwa area and another body from the same area at Old Mutare Hospital. We are appealing to people whose relatives have been missing from Chiadzwa area to go and check with the hospital authorities,” said police spokesman in Manicaland Inspector Brian Makomeke.
“We have a total of 20 unidentified bodies. The hospital authorities have said their mortuary facilities are not working well and the pilling of bodies is straining their facilities. Some of the deceased panners might be foreigners and we are not sure because they all did not have any form of identification. Most of the panners come to Chiadzwa without any form of identification with some coming from as far Bulawayo. There are no forms of identification,” Insp Makomeke said.
An unknown number of bodies were scattered in the forests surrounding the fields. Several died from gunfire wounds while others died from aliments such as cholera.
So brutal was the campaign that it was dubbed Operation Hakudzokwi kumunda meaning Operation you would never go back to the diamond fields.
About 20 000 illegal panners who had made the diamond fields their permanent homes fled in all directions. They had come from all over Zimbabwe. Within a week of the operation there was not a single miner left in the diamonds fields.
Dube was lucky to escape unhurt. But he says it was hell and vowed not to return to the diamond fields as long as the soldiers are there. “I thank my Gods I escaped unhurt,” Dube said a day after arriving in Mutare. “It was hell on earth. The soldiers are shooting to kill.”
Human rights organizations said the army was using heavy-handed tactics to remove the illegal miners and described the operation as “genocide”.
“This is genocide,” said Trust Maanda, regional coordinator of the internationally acclaimed Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
Reverend Stephen Maengamhura, regional coordinator of ZimRights, a human rights watchdog said the soldiers were violating human rights. “There is a wholesome violation of rights,” Rev Maengamhuru said.
He said while it was noble to bring order at the fields but it did not warrant the violations of human rights being perpetrated by the soldiers.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition weighed in saying the violations should be documented so that the perpetrators will be brought to book once normalcy comes to Zimbabwe.
With the diamond business now history, Dube is likely to return to his old ways – poverty. But perhaps he may offload some of the valuables such as the 323 vehicle and other household goods he had bought if he is to sustain his family.
“I am not employed and this was now my only means of survival,” he says, adding: “I may now be forced to sell what I had bought when I was in Chiadzwa.”
Dube’s story is similar to that of thousands other desperate Zimbabweans who descended on Chiadzwa seeking for instant fortunes.
Professionals were not spared either. Teachers, especially those in schools close to the diamond fields abandoned the chalk and joined the illegal mining business. School children also deserted the classroom to join their teachers. Even factories and industries were left with skeleton staff after workers left for Chiadzwa.
Jonathan Matondo, 37, a senior Mathematics teacher at a secondary school close to Chiadzwa has not reported to duty for almost a year now.
“Why should I suffer when I can easily go to Chiadzwa and become a rich person,” Matondo said. He said if things normalize he could go back to the classroom.

Security agents flush out illegal diamonds dealers from Mutare streets

MUTARE – Security agents have taken their campaign against illegal diamond dealing onto the streets of this eastern border city where they are arresting anybody found in possession of foreign currency.

Several vehicles have been confiscated from suspected diamond dealers and miners.

Those arrested are being taken to the Chiadzwa diamond fields where they are forced to fill up gullies that were left by illegal miners.

The campaign, being spearheaded by the army and the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), has been round condemned by human rights activists as illegal and inhumane.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police have subordinated themselves in this campaign which has seen about 500 people being rounded up and taken to Chiadzwa.

Trust Maanda, regional coordinator of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said: “They are taking people without regard to whether they are dealing with diamonds or not. In fact, they are abducting people and commandeering them into ZUPCO buses and taking them to diamond fields of Chiadzwa where they are tortured.”

Maanda added: “We condemned it in the strongest terms. It’s illegal. The process o the law is that if somebody is suspected on reasonable grounds to have committed an offence that person must be brought before a court of law in accordance with the normal procedure not to be taken to Chiadzwa.”

Maanda said the campaign was inhumane and degrading and should be immediately stopped.

“It’s not a sustainable way of dealing with Chiadzwa,” he said. Maanda said assets belonging to suspected diamond dealers and miners have been confiscated by security agents.

He said the security agents were disregarding court orders to return assets they have taken from suspects.

Since Monday soldiers, CIO operatives and police details have been moving around the city centre and high density suburbs rounding up suspected diamond dealers and miners and searching them.

Anybody found in possession of foreign currency especially United States Dollars, British Pounds and South African Rands are immediately arrested.

Then they are taken to Mutare Central police station where ZUPCO buses will take them to Chiadzwa.

By yesterday six bus loads of suspects had been taken to the diamond fields.

One police officer said those taken t the diamond fields to fill up gullies were being denied food and water.

“It’s a disaster,” the police officer, based at Mutare Central police station, said. “People are forced to work for two days without food or water.”

They were reports that female suspects taken to Chiadzwa were being sexual abuse b security agents so as to avoid being beaten up or tortured.

The latest campaign come as soldiers intensified their ruthless operation to flush out illegal miners and dealers from Chiadzwa diamond fields.

Bodies of dead panners and dealer are piling up at Mutare Provincial Hospital while several others are scattered in the forests surrounding the diamond fields.

An unknown number of dead bodies are buried in collapsed tunnels inside the diamond fields.

Community Radio project gathers momentum

AN initiative by Mutare based journalists to set up a community radio station in the eastern border city is gathering momentum.

The community radio station, to be known as Kumakomo Community Radio Station, will broadcast news and events happening in Mutare and its immediate environs.

Community broadcasting is provided for under sections of the Broadcasting Services Act.

“The primary aim of setting up a community radio station in Mutare is to provide residents with a medium of communication,” said Kelvin Jakachira, chairman of Kumakomo Community Radio Station. “We want residents to have a platform to discuss and debate community issues.”

Jakachira, also national executive member of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, said the community radio will shun political issues but will dwell exclusively on community issues such as HIV-Aids and other health related matters, farming, cultural issues, social and developmental issues, education, sport and entertainment.

Jakachira said they will soon embark on a massive awareness campaign to inform Mutare residents about community broadcasting.

“We soon will embark on road shows, public meetings and other activities throughout the city to let residents know about this project,” he said. “Residents of Mutare will be the owners of the community radio station.

Jakachira said his committee was happy with the positive responds they have received from community leaders in Mutare.

Other members of the committee include Chengetai Murimwa, a former journalist for the defunct Eastern Star and Tambudzai Zindi, former Manica Post senior reporter.

A board of trustees has already been put in place. It is chaired by Mutare based educationist Daniel Chigudu.

Jakachira said Zimbabwe was one of the few countries in Africa that id not have community radio stations.

He said in countries such as Mozambique and South Africa community radio stations were very popular.

“We can not be left behind in the information highway,” he said, adding: “In these days of advanced information systems community radio can offer some form of media education thereby creating an information culture.”

Jakachira said his committee will go on a fundraising campaign to raise funds for the project. He said the community radio station should be self sustained.

Tears roll down as Shooting Dogs is shown in Mutare

MUTARE – Tears rolled down the cheeks of several young Zimbabweans during the screening of Shooting Dogs, a movie that depicts events of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
The film was screening at Rainbow Theater in this eastern border city on Monday and will continue showing until this Saturday.
During the course of the movie, several people had tears rolling down their cheeks as they failed to come to terms with chilling scenes of mass killings of people by machete wielding militants.
The film is based on a true story of accounts of the genocide in which close to a million Rwandan from the ethnic minority Tutsis were massacred by Hutu militants.
The Hutu ethnic group consists of more than 80 percent of the population in Rwanda.
The film is based on a true story. An exhausted Catholic priest and a young idealistic English teacher find themselves caught in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. They must now choose whether to stay with the thousands of Tutsis about to be massacred or to flee for safety. The 2500 refugees were eventually abandoned and were all murdered by machete wielding militants.
Shooting Dogs, the film's title, refers to the actions of United Nations soldiers in shooting at the stray dogs that scavenged the dead bodies scattered all over the country’s roadsides.
Since the UN soldiers were not allowed to shoot at the Hutus that had caused the deaths in the first place, the shooting of dogs is symbolic of the madness of the situation that the film attempts to capture.
Those that watched the film in Mutare, Zimbabwe’s third largest city said they could not believe that such atrocities could occur in the presence of armed UN solders.
“Initially, I thought it was just one of those fiction films but when I got to know it was actually based on a true story I broke down,” said Tendai Matondo, a 23-year old man from Sakubva, a poor township in this eastern border city. “I cannot imagine the scale of indiscriminate killing that I watched in this film.”
Joice Mawoko, 21, from Murambi, an up market low density suburb, said she could not help but shed tears. “I have never imagined people can be that cruel to the extent of murdering others to such a scale,” Mawoko said.
Morris Gonda, 38, a community development worker, said events in Rwanda should never be allowed to happen again in a civilised world.
“It was a bitter lesson. Allowing barbaric to take control of any situation is very dangerous and a serious threat to mankind,” Gonda said, also failing to come to terms with what he had seen in the film.
The film was screened in the country at a time when the unstable political situation in Zimbabwe was increasingly being equated to that of Rwanda during the run – up to the genocide.
Romeo Dallaire, the retired Canadian solider who led a depleted UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda in 1994 told a recent peace and security workshop in Pretoria that the situation in the Darfur Region and Zimbabwe was similar to that of Rwanda in 1994.
Paul Kagame, the Rwandan President, whose rebel army stopped the genocide in May 1994 , and took over the country, also joined in saying the situation in Zimbabwe was dangerous and needed a quick solution.
Zimbabwe is going through an unprecedented political crisis which was worsened by presidential elections condemned by the international community as illegitimate. President Mugabe lost the first round to the opposition’s Morgan Tsvangirai but a run-off was called after the opposition failed to garner the required percentage to take office.
The run- off was marred by violence, murder and intimidation resulting in Tsvangirai pulling out and igniting an international outcry.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and leaders of a breakaway faction of the MDC are engaged in talks aimed at solving the political crisis but a solution has remained elusive amid accusations and counter accusations by the negotiating parties.
In Shooting Dogs after the airplane of the Hutu President of Rwanda is shot down, the Hutu militias slaughter the Tutsi population. In the Ecole Technique Officielle, the Catholic priest Christopher and the idealistic English teacher Joe Connor lodge 2500 Rwandans refugees, under the protection of the Belgian UN force and under siege by Hutu militia. When the Tutsi refugees are abandoned by the UN soldiers, they are murdered by the extremist militia
The movie released in the United States as Beyond the Gates, is a 2005 film, directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring John Hurt, Hugh Dancy and Claire-Hope Ashitey. It is based on the experiences of BBC news producer David Belton, who worked in Rwanda during the Rwandan Genocide. Belton is the film's co-writer and one of its producers.
Unlike Hotel Rwanda, which was filmed in South Africa using South African actors, the film was shot in the original location of the scenes it portrays. Also, many survivors of the massacre were employed as part of the production crew and minor acting roles.

Diamond dealers wreck peoples marriages

The discovery of diamonds in Marange may have brought fortunes and riches to hundreds of people, most of them who were wallowing in abject poverty, but it has led to an alarming erosion of societal values.
Children and their teachers have abandoned classrooms to camp at Chiadzwa, while workers have also deserted the workshops and factories to search for the precious stones. Women of the oldest profession from across the country have descended on Chiadzwa in search of greener pastures.
But lately, it is the house wives who are deserting their matrimonial homes for diamond dealers and miners who are always awash with money, especially the elusive Greenback and South African Rands.
While it is against Zimbabwean cultural values for married women to engage in extra marital activities in Mutare and Marange diamond dealers and miners are causing havoc at several matrimonial homes.
Research done over the past three months has revealed an alarming numbers of married women who are trekking down to Marange not to sell any wares but to engage in illicit relationships with diamond dealers and miners.
Similarly, most Zimbabwean young women have moved into the homes of foreigners who are in Mutare to buy diamonds.
Most of the buyers are from the Middle East, Belgium , West Africa and North Africa .
The illicit relationships fuelled by the illegal diamond trade have stoked fears of an upsurge in HIV-Aids infections in a country already reeling from the effects of the scourge.
“The biggest problem is that most of the people involved in the diamond business are very informal persons who are prone to casual sexual tendencies,” said Morris Gonda, a community development worker. “These are people who do not know about safe sex and the dangers of multiple sexual partners. What it essentially means is that married women who are involved in illicit love affairs with these guys are exposing their families to the dangers of HIV-Aids and this may have devastating effects to the society at large.”
Gonda said health workers should cast their nets much wider to include diamond dealers and miners to make them aware of the dangers they pose to the communities.
A marriage counsel who refused to be named said their office was failing to cope with the increasing number of couples fighting as a result of cases of infidelity which at most times involves diamond dealers or miners.
“You will always hear that a diamond person is the source of the quarrel between married couples,” said the marriage counsel, a middle aged woman.
A court official at the civic courts in Mutare said on a daily basis they were handling at least five cases of couple divorcing as a result of infidelity involving the wife.
“Its alarming now,” said the court official, “At the rate things are happening it’s almost a crisis now.”
Several people interviewed in Mutare’s poor townships of Sakubva, Dangamvura and Chikanga said they were worried about the level of promiscuity involving married women especially with cash rich diamond dealers and miners.
“They pretend to be going to sell wares in Chiadzwa and the Marange area yet they are involved in love affairs with dealers and gwejas,” said Tendai Mbodza from Sakubva. Illegal diamond miners are commonly referred to as Gwejas.
Abraham Mhlanga from Dangamvura, a middle class township, said he was not surprised most men now do not allow their wives to go to Marange to sell wares.
“Those guys have money,” Mhlanga said, referring to the diamond dealers and miners, “Imagine a person who never even dreamt he will handle $100US holding a wad of $100 000 US . That person can do anything with that money including spending it on women, married or single.”
A clear diamond can fetch up to $2000US per carat depending on the clarity of the stone.
Hundreds of young people are now driving latest vehicles only found on the streets of HollyHood in the United States.

Diamond dealers eastablish powerful cartels

Illegal diamond dealers have now organized themselves into powerful cartels that have become immune to arrest and prosecution despite repeated threats by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono that they would be brought to book.
This has stoked fears this otherwise quiet eastern border city of Mutare could soon be plunged into a hub of organized crime and lawlessness.
Mutare is close to the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange.
Diamond dealers now do their illegal transactions publicly on the streets amid reports the country is losing several millions of United States dollars every week as a resulting of the illegal trading of the precious gems.
The dealers operate in organized groups with some of them armed with small firearms. There have been reports of people being killed after diamond deals went sour.
Three weeks ago a 21-year old man from Chikanga was murdered at a nightspot after a transaction had culminated into a heated dispute.
Police have launched superficial raids at the Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange, which have only netted small-time miners and dealers.
Up to 2000 people have been arrested since an operation to stem the illegal mining and selling of diamonds was launched in May this year under Operation Restore Order at Chiadzwa.
Only last week about 334 illegal miners and 74 dealers were nabbed under the operation.
The police recovered 334 pieces of diamonds, US$17 295, 7 923 Rands and ZW$ 18 trillion during the operation. Seventy-six vehicles were also impounded during the operation.
Several of those arrested have been brought to court were they were sentenced to jail terms of upwards of two years.
But police sources said only the small players were nabbed leaving behind the barons known to enjoy immunity from both the police and other security organs.
“What we are seeing here is a situation where the bid diamond dealers have become so powerful so much that it is now very difficult of them to be arrested,” said a police officer who participated in the last operation. “These guys have organized themselves into very powerful cartels. We are also now becoming afraid of them because they are above the law.”
The police sources said it was now an open secret that big diamond dealers were greasing the palms of top officers in the force to ensure they are immune from arrest and prosecution.
But police spokesman in Manicaland Province, Brian Makomeke, said the police would thrive to end the illegal mining and trading of the gems.
“We want to want people that Chiadzwa is a protected area and sporadic raids will continue until we have flushed out all diamond dealers and panners,” Makomeke told journalists.
But our sources in the force said there was no will power within the top ranks of the police force to stamp out the menace because they also were benefiting.
“The police is aware of who is involved in this illegal game but they give it a blind eye because they are benefiting big time,” said another police office that has a junior rank.
This comes amid repeated but futile threats by Gono that the illegal mining and trading of diamonds could soon be stamped out.
Illegal buyers of the gems from Europe, the Middle East, Nigeria, Guinea, South Africa and Asia have descended on Mutare and Marange.
The trade in diamonds has transformed the lives of previously poor people to the status of mega rich.

Police nab diamond baron

A diamond baron suspected to have links with the wealthy Mujuru family was arrested after he was found in possession of 262 pieces of diamonds, the largest single haul since the discovery of the gems over two years ago.
The diamonds are estimated by industry experts to be valued at close to US$1, 3 million although the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe valued them at ZW$52 trillion (US$520).
Misheck Muhwehwesa, a Mutare resident was nabbed in Chiadzwa, Marange two weeks ago after police stopped him at a road block at Mutimba Bridge in Marange.
The diamonds were recovered from his vehicle’s air cleaner. The gems weighed 668 carats. A carat can fetch to as much as US$2000 depending on the clarity of the stone.
Muhwehwesa, 38 of Number 8 Pike Place in Mutare’s medium-density of Yeovil, has since appeared in court and is out on ZW$25 trillion (US$250) bail. Senior Magistrate Billiard Musakwa presided over the bail hearing.
Muhwehwesa’s lawyer, Chris Ndlovu has applied for the discharge of their client arguing the State did not have solid evidence to prove the diamonds belonged to Muhwehwesa.
Muhwehwesa, a renowned diamond dealer, is suspected to have strong links with the country’s Second Family. His connection with the Mujuru family came to light after Muhwehwesa successfully sought the prosecution of a Zanu PF politician and losing candidate for Mutasa South, Sherrington Dumbura, who had allegedly swindled him of an unknown number of diamonds valued at millions of United States Dollars.
Muhwehwesa is said to have approached retired General Solomon Mujuru to have Dumbura arrested and prosecuted. Dumbura is also involved in the illegal diamond trade.
To settle matters and avoid being jailed Dumbura, a lightweight Zanu PF politician in the eastern border city, he ceded several top of the range vehicles and an assortment of other properties. He was immediately freed.
It was not possible to get comment from Mujuru as this correspondent could have easily been identified as working for a publication blacklisted by authorities. Journalists working for online publications such as thezimbabwetimes face great risk if identified and caught.
The arrest of Muhwehwesa come amid growing concern that police operations to quell illegal diamond mining and trading was targeting small players only. Over 2000 have been arrested during the past two months and sentenced to jail terms of up wards of two years each. But it has proved difficult for the police to arrest big players in the mega rich trade.
However, court officials said they were eager to see how Muhwehwesa’s case would be handled given his vast wealth which he allegedly accumulated through the illegal trade in diamonds.
If convicted he faces up to five years in jail.
“This will be very interesting because we have never seen any of the big guys being send to jail,” said one court official. “It will be a precedent if this guy is convicted.”
Top diamond dealers have formed powerful cartels which have become immune to both arrest and prosecution despite repeated threats by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono that the long arm of the law was closing in on the illegal dealers and miners.