Rig kinesisk-drevet diamantmine i det sydafrikanske land er hegnet ind med pigtråd og bevogtes af soldater, mens omegnens bønder synker stadig dybere ned i fattigdom og soldaterne pudser bidske hunde på dem, hvis de opdages på minens jord.
MARANGE, 22 February 2013 (IRIN) – A chain-link fence topped with coils of razor wire (pigtrådsruller) separates Zimbabwean subsistence farmers (småbønder), who endure perennial (bestandige) crop failures and scarce rainfall, from what may be one of the world’s richest diamond deposits.
Marange’s diamond fields, about 90 km southeast of Mutare in Manicaland Province, drew tens of thousands of artisanal miners (små private diamantgravere) in 2006 as word spread that diamonds had been found.
Two years later, they were flushed out in a heavy-handed security operation called ‘Hakudzokwi’ – meaning “you will not return” – to allow commercial mining companies to exploit the roughly 60.000-hectare site.
Rodrick Nyauyanga, 50, briefly gave up his life as a Marange farmer to become an artisanal miner in 2006.
With the earnings, he built himself a five-room brick-and-mortar home with a zinc roof.
He also purchased six head of cattle and several farming implements (redskaber), as well as a motorbike.
Killed by guard dogs
Following the security clampdown, his 20-year-old son trespassed on the diamond fields and was killed by guard dogs set on him by soldiers. After that, Nyauyanga returned to his life as a farmer and slowly lapsed back into poverty.
First, he sold the motorbike to pay for food and for his youngest child’s school fees. Then, most of his cattle died from tick-borne diseases.
“The only dip tank (til at bade kvæget i mod tæger) we had in the area was destroyed to make way for one of the mines, so we no longer dip our cattle. Villagers here believe that the mines are polluting the river from which our cattle and goats drink,” Nyauyanga told IRIN.
Now the diamond companies are beginning to encroach on (tage mere og mere af) Nyauyanga’s land. He lost about half of his five-hectare plot when the Chinese mining company Anjin Diamond extended its boundary into his fields.
A 2012 report by the UK-based NGO Global Witness said Anjin Diamond was a joint venture with the “obscure” local company Matt Bronze and Anjin Zimbabwe’s board members, which “include senior serving and retired military and police officers.”
Impoverishment
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97525/Suffering-amid-Zimbabwe-s-diamond-fields-of-plenty
