Villagers Demand Compensation For Being Moved From Diamond Fields
04/05/2011 13:00:00
Mutare, May 04, 2011 – The remaining 40 families in Chiadzwa diamond fields
are demanding US$50 000 per family as compensation before they are moved to
ARDA Transau in Odzi area.
Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT) chairman Malvern Mudiwa said the
families had agreed not to be moved before receiving their compensation in
full. CCDT is a trust that was set up by the people of Chiadzwa to fight for
the rights of the people.
“We have been talking with the government and the companies that are mining
diamonds that families want to get their full compensation before leaving
the Chiadzwa area,” said Mudiwa.
Mudiwa said the money will be used to buy shares in the companies that are
mining the precious gems so that the Chiadzwa community fully benefit.
“Our aim as a trust is to negotiate with the companies mining there to let
the villagers buy shares so that they also become part of it as well, we
have been negotiating to get claims but it looks like all the claims have
been finished,” said Mudiwa.
Mudiwa also said families in the area would also want the issue of graves of
their relatives to be addressed before they move.
“Where they are extracting diamonds graves are not going to be spared so
family members want this issue to be addressed before being relocated to
ARDA Transau,” said Mudiwa. “They want their relatives to be given a decent
re-burial,” he said.
Farai Maguwu director of Centre for Research and Development, CRD, an NGO
that looks into human rights abuses in Chiadzwa area said the US$50 000 per
house hold that is being demanded by the people of Chiadzwa is justified.
“It’s very much justified and it’s also in tandem with the UN habitat
minimum standards for relocation. First there must be prior concern for the
people to be moved, secondly there must be adequate preparation in the
relocation site before people are moved and thirdly there must be
compensation because normal life is disrupted when people are being moved
and cultural values are being violated,” said Maguwu.
Maguwu said the families that are being relocated need to have their people
reburied and it is this cultural dislocation that is caused by these
movements that companies that are mining in Chiadzwa need to compensate.
“There is also infrastructure that has been developed by these families over
the years and there is disruption to health, education, agriculture and many
other basic necessities of life that they are being deprived as the
government and companies are trying to make the new place habitable. Finally
it’s not by choice that they are being moved from this area and this forced
movement is because companies want to make money from Chiadzwa and there is
nothing wrong with the families getting US$50 000 as compared to the
billions of dollars that the companies will be making,” said Maguwu.
About twenty families have been moved to from Chiadzwa to ARDA Transau and
they were paid about US$1 000 per household.
Five companies that are already mining in Chiadzwa are Marange Resources
formerly Canadile Miners, Mbada Diamonds, Anjin Zimbabwe, Sainol Zimbabwe
and Pure Diamonds.